INDUSTRIAL ARTS 

Its Interpretation in American Schools 


UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
OFFICE OF EDUCATION 



Bulletin 1937, No. 34 











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INDUSTRIAL ARTS 

Its Interpretation in American Schools 


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Report of a Committee Appointed by 
the Commissioner of Education 


MARIS M. PROFFITT, Chairman 



Bulletin 1937, No. 34 


s. 


United States Department of the Interior - - - Harold L. Ickes, Secretary 

Office of Education.- J. W. Sludebaker, Commissioner 


United States Government Printing Office - - - j— 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. 


Washington : 1938 



Price 15 ce.pts 
























FOREWORD 


The primary duty of our public schools is to provide edu¬ 
cational training for citizenship in a democracy. Among 
the important responsibilities of citizenship is that of par¬ 
ticipation in the work of the community. Every good cit¬ 
izen is a worker and a producer, whether in commerce, pro¬ 
fessional pursuits, public service, transportation, agricul¬ 
ture, manufacturing, or other occupational fields. He is 
also an appreciative consumer who is affected by the intri¬ 
cate interdependence of all occupations. Industrial arts, 
parallel with other subjects and curriculums and correlated 
with them, contributes to the realization of the goal of en¬ 
lightened citizenship. 

This is essentially an industrial age; modern civilization 
is dependent largely upon science, invention, and skill. The 
manufacturing industries are important among the activities 
which make for the material well-being of the people. They 
should be exemplified in the facilities provided by public 
education. The general education of every public-school 
pupil—his cultural development—is incomplete without con¬ 
cepts, understandings, and appreciations regarding manu¬ 
facturing and its hosts of workers. Industrial arts as an 
educational field makes this desired contribution to the pu¬ 
pil’s development. It concerns itself with the aesthetic and 
economic values of materials, with basic processes of manu¬ 
facture, and with many problems of the workers. 

The public schools, through the grades, should be rich in 
provisions for pupil experiences (1) which teach the neces¬ 
sity and dignity of work; (2) which illustrate the diversi¬ 
fication of industry; (3) which provide for testing personal 
interests and aptitudes in representative crafts; (4) which 


v 






VI 


FOREWORD 


serve avocational interests in construction; (5) which de¬ 
velop consumer knowledges and appreciations; (6) which 
provide occupational training for those who plan to enter 
employment as industrial workers and for those now in 
manufacturing trades who desire to improve their profi¬ 
ciency. The first five of these points are served by indus¬ 
trial arts as a phase of the general education desirable for 
all; the sixth point is the function of industrial or trade 
education for those who need it as specific training. Indus¬ 
trial arts merges into trade preparation at the time when 
general education objectives change to specific training 
objectives. 

Educators and public-school administrators in particular 
have long felt the need for a statement, by persons actively 
engaged in the work, that interprets the place and function 
of industrial arts in the educational program. To meet this 
need there was appointed by the Office of Education, a com¬ 
mittee of outstanding persons in this phase of education, a 
group whose knowledge of educational objectives and educa¬ 
tional practices would command the respect of leaders in 
the fields of school administration and educational phil¬ 
osophy. 

The first meeting of the committee, in November 1934, was 
devoted to discussing the problems involved, to outlining the 
work to be undertaken, and to appointing subcommittees 
responsible for the preparation of the first drafts of various 
sections of the present report. The final meeting was held 
in June 1936, at which time the drafts of the sectional re¬ 
ports were read and criticized by the committee. In the 
light of the suggestions and criticisms by the group as a 
whole, the different chapters were revised and prepared as 
a unit report of the committee. 

Bess Goodykoontz, 
Assistant Commissioner of Education. 


INTRODUCTION 

Industrial arts is a phase of general education that concerns 
itself with the materials, processes, and products of manu¬ 
facture, and with the contribution of those engaged in in¬ 
dustry. The learnings come through the pupil’s experiences 
with tools and materials and through his study of resultant 
conditions of life. It is a curriculum area rather than a sub¬ 
ject or course, being comparable in this respect to the lan¬ 
guage arts. 

Industrial arts, therefore, has general values that apply to 
all levels, and in a continuous program these values are 
progressively intensive and are cumulative in their effect as 
the pupil advances in maturity. Through such a program 
the pupil: 

(1) Gains knowledge of the changes made in materials 

to meet the needs of society, of tools and indus¬ 
trial processes used to effect these changes, of the 
constant adaptation of materials, tools, and proc¬ 
esses to meet changing needs and conditions, and 
of industrial workers and working conditions. 

(2) Grows in appreciation of the value of information 

regarding occupations as a background for a wise 
choice of a career, of the importance in modern 
life of tools and industrial processes, of the artis¬ 
try of the designer and the skill of the artisan, 
and of the dignity of productive labor. 

(3) Increases in ability to plan constructive projects, to 

select and use sources of industrial and related in¬ 
formation, to handle tools and materials, to ex¬ 
press with material things his individual interests, 
to use effectively his recreational time, to work 
and share as a member of the group, and to evalu¬ 
ate work and its products. 

(4) Develops attitudes of concern for safety practices, of 

consideration for workers in all fields, of regard 
for cooperation among the members of a group, 
and of respect for property. 


1 




2 


INTRODUCTION 


Largely manipulative in character, yet affording content 
of an informative, technical, and social kind, industrial arts 
contributes to complete living because it meets needs that are 
real and satisfies impulses that are inherent. It contributes 
in a unique and wholesome way to social awareness and 
morale. Beading, discussion, observation, and experiment 
are combined with participation in activities which permit 
discovery and development of creative and artistic abilities. 
The articles selected for hand or machine work and the 
topics chosen for study vary in complexity with the ages, 
interests, and needs of pupils. The work is appropriate for 
boys and girls alike, and extends into the realm of adult 
education. Outside the schools, industrial arts subjects or 
activities are pursued for avocational and recreational or 
for occupational values, as individuals or groups may de¬ 
termine. In school and out, regardless of ages and interests, 
industrial arts makes a unique contribution to intellectual 
development, to social orientation, and to economic adjust¬ 
ment. Those who would have deep appreciation of its 
worth to individuals and to society must be students of its 
origins and compulsions, its universality and permanence, its 
outlets and satisfactions. 


CHAPTER I: ORIGINS AND FUNCTIONS 


The general concern of the schools today is to provide a 
program of education for a society which is fundamentally 
industrial. The immediate concern here is a program of in¬ 
dustrial arts that will contribute to this general goal. The 
specific purpose of this chapter is to show the origin and 
development of the present concept of industrial arts as it 
appears in the programs of public education today. School 
administrators and others responsible for setting up the pro¬ 
grams will, it is believed, be interested in a brief resume of 
the origins and in the formation of the attitudes or concepts 
which affect present-day programs. For purposes of analy¬ 
sis the origins and functions of industrial arts will be pre¬ 
sented as four postulates, which are first named and then 
amplified in the paragraphs which follow. 

1. Individual nature and need .—As a source of origin for 
industrial arts it is essential that a study be made of the 
nature of the individual and of his needs as found in all 
types of people, from early childhood to old age. These 
should be studied with particular reference to their range, 
variety, and characteristics. The application of such an 
analysis is echoed in the various chapters throughout the 
bulletin in the discussions of industrial arts in elementary, 
secondary, and adult education. 

2. Material cultures .—A study of material cultures of 
American society in a perspective of great world civiliza¬ 
tions will reveal a fundamental origin of industrial arts. 
For example, man has provided himself since his earliest 
existence with some kind of artificial illumination ranging 
from a burning pine knot to indirect illumination by elec¬ 
tricity. This origin refers to elements of utility, efficiency, 
and beauty in things that have been developed and used by 
man throughout history. This origin more than any other 
distinguishes industrial arts as a broad subject of study. 

3. Social-economic forces. —Social-economic forces and 
conditions which characterize present-day industrial society 

3 




4 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


and give rise to some of its perplexing problems cannot be 
neglected in a search for the origins of industrial arts. 

4. Educational thought .—A study of educational thought, 
or philosophy, and also history, is essential for discovering 
the origins of ideas about education in general and of indus¬ 
trial arts education in particular, as these express themselves 
in gradually evolving school programs. 

INDIVIDUAL NATURE AND NEED 

Physical activity has provided an all-important means of 
learning and growth from earliest childhood. Kicking, 
throwing the arms, and other general muscular movements 
of early infancy, constituting learning through doing, are 
the most characteristic activities of the child’s neuromuscular 
system. Such general activities are vital to his development. 

As the nervous system matures, activity becomes more spe¬ 
cific and purposive. At first it is activity for activity’s sake. 
The baby tosses about, cries, and takes nourishment. Later 
he runs across the room, with frequent stops and turns for 
adult approval. A child picks up an article, pulls it apart, 
or perhaps throws it, regardless of what it is or where he 
is. This impulse to activity cannot be inhibited without 
warping growth, but the impulse to activity should be met 
by materials, incentives, and guidance. Action so controlled 
results in establishing nervous and muscular coordination 
essential to proper development. Such a pattern of ra¬ 
tional growth continues into adulthood. In childhood the 
individual begins to assemble objects and to evidence satis¬ 
faction when building things out of blocks, or other play¬ 
things. By the time he has reached adolescence his muscular 
and nervous coordinations are developed to the point where 
without undue strain he can acquire specific physical and 
mental skills. The span of attention which in childhood is 
very short gradually lengthens, paralleling physical growth, 
and accompanying the transition from general to more 
specific types of behavior. 

The individual’s tendency to manipulate together with his 
curiosity concerning what things are and how they operate, 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 


5 


provides a strong motive for learning. There is a natural 
tendency on the part of every individual through life to 
manipulate and to investigate material things which con¬ 
cern or interest him and to do things in certain ways or pat¬ 
terns. Industrial arts, as well as the other practical arts, 
provide a means for self-expression. 

The individual, whether in an urban or rural environment, 
is frequently handicapped by inaccessibility to the things he 
hears about and wants to experience. It is perfectly natural 
for a normal child to attempt to satisfy such wants by some 
means or other. For example, one group of boys assembled 
equipment for making a printer’s outfit in a basement of one 
youngster’s home. Another group built a completely 
equipped model home, fully lighted with electricity, walls 
papered, roof shingled, outside painted, and inside furnished. 
This points with great emphasis to the need for supplying 
facilities and materials for doing things which children want 
and need to do, but which should be carried on in educa¬ 
tional situations under intelligent social sponsorship. 

With increasing maturity and the development of more 
complex patterns of construction, an ever-wider variety of 
materials and techniques is required, which if supplied under 
stimulating influences leads to the development of a scientific 
attitude of inquiry. The nature of industrial arts makes a 
universal appeal, not limited by age, sex, race, intelligence, 
or aptitude. Nor are the values in this phase of education 
limited to persons pursuing certain occupational interests, 
for there is no occupational interest but can be served 
through the broadening influence of an understanding of our 
industrial life which may be realized through industrial arts 
experiences. No matter what the occupation, it invariably 
touches on many material, social, and economic factors. 
Wholesome stability in these respects may be developed in 
young people through honest work experiences. The indus¬ 
trialist and businessman, not to mention the parent, are not 
slow to recognize such truths. 

The periods of development, namely, childhood, adoles¬ 
cence, and adulthood, which parallel rather closely the ele¬ 
mentary school, the secondary school, and the colleges, or 


6 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


later programs, respectively, have their special characteris¬ 
tics which find counterparts in varying phases of industrial 
arts work. Activities, such as industrial arts presents, pro¬ 
vide opportunities for self-expression in natural kinds of 
media as opposed to the kinds used in instruction in abstract 
subjects. Industrial arts activities provide most excellent 
educational experiences for preserving and developing the 
artistic and natural sides of the child’s nature. 

Orientation as regards occupational life, especially for 
certain pupils, should be provided in early adolescence, per¬ 
haps more prominently than in earlier or later years. The 
need, however, varies with individuals and with conditions. 
Once a good introduction has been had to materials and 
processes, there is an opportunity in later adolescence for 
realizing values peculiar to industrial arts. An individual’s 
interest in interior decoration, art pottery, fine printing, 
landscape architecture, or invention, suggests what may be 
included in an industrial arts program. The implications 
for occupational specialization or vocational education be¬ 
come at once apparent. More important, however, is the 
opportunity for exploratory experiences that have value for 
determining in what broad fields of human activities his 
interests lie. 

The adult work takes many interesting forms, and because 
of the richness of our industrial society, always provides 
something of interest regardless of occupation, sex, or ma¬ 
turity. The type of community center to meet the needs of 
the mature group has scarcely been devised. At this period 
in life intensity of purpose has increased as has also the 
capacity for work and accomplishment, both of which are 
accompanied by growth in social maturity. As society be¬ 
comes more complex, industrial arts and general work ex¬ 
periences will need to be increased if the individual is to be 
prepared to understand what is going on about him and to 
participate successfully in the varied occupational life 
around him. To deny such experiences on elementary, sec¬ 
ondary, and higher school levels in an industrial society 
is to dwarf the development of the individual and to thwart 
what now appears to be his birthright—opportunity for ad- 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 


7 


justment to the environment in which he lives. Learning 
through interaction with environment on ever-widening cir¬ 
cles and through ever farther reaching endeavor should be 
prominent as a basis of learning in this “origin.” 

MATERIAL CULTURES 

As man advances in an involved technology, he should 
have educational experiences that will enable him to enjoy 
a finer culture as regards materials than was possible in any 
previous period of history. This can be realized only if he 
is broadly prepared to develop and to use his material inher¬ 
itance. The individual who has learned to know style or 
design in buildings, rugs, pottery, silverware, glass, furni¬ 
ture, dress, china, and other similar things in common use, is 
prepared to make selections that an integrated or cultured 
taste tells him can supply life-long satisfactions. One who 
knows the various forces—racial, individual, symbolic, ma¬ 
terial, and national—that have entered into the making of 
articles of every-day use, is thereby stimulated to a fuller 
enjoyment of those things than the person without such 
knowledge. , 

Individuals in all walks of life respond to the fine contri¬ 
butions of others, particularly those expressed in materials, 
and by such contributions are people known. For example, 
the Javanese are known for their batiks; the Chinese for 
their cloisonne, embroideries, carvings, and thick pile rugs; 
the Mayans for their clever and meticulous craftsmanship 
expressed in such forms as basketry and articles of jade and 
gold; the Japanese for their ceremonial swords, Satsuma, 
and colored block prints; the Greeks for their classical archi¬ 
tecture; the Bokharans for their Turkoman rugs; and the 
Americans, among other things, for their great industries, 
skyscrapers, and transportation facilities, all resulting from 
the development of machines and power. 

The question of the universality of a particular cultural 
pattern always arises in the analysis of a civilization. A 
middle-western businessman, for example, recently installed 
$2,000 worth of equipment in the kitchen of his 8-room home. 


8 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


This contrasts sharply, of course, with the facilities of a poor 
cotton tenant’s home in the South where the only heat and 
light come from a fireplace. Public education, especially 
through industrial arts, tends to create a desire for a higher 
standard of living than the minimum so often encountered. 

The American ideal of material cultures seems to call for 
comfort, efficiency, and beauty. The individual is intrigued 
by the many possibilities, but it is amazing sometimes to dis¬ 
cover how foolishly abstract he can be in planning for the 
education of his children. Some one has been stimulated to 
coin the expression consumer literacy to indicate intelligence 
necessary for efficiency in the selection, care, and use of in¬ 
dustrial products and services. For example, as you read 
these lines, ask yourself about the nature of the format and 
the quality of the paper used in this publication. What 
style characterizes the chair in which you are seated ? If it 
is Jacobean, is the example a good one ? Were you conscious 
of the character of the articles you handled at dinner last 
evening? Was the design of the silverware an example of 
really fine craftsmanship, or a copy, or just a knife and 
fork? Were the items of the dinnerware products of the 
great American ceramic industry? Were the cups translu¬ 
cent or just opaque? Was the decoration anything more 
than a transfer? Study the arrangement of the articles in 
the room around you. What objective proof have you that 
good taste is evidenced ? Do you and the members of your 
family know how to choose and use an automobile that will 
give you a maximum of satisfaction for the money ex¬ 
pended ? Ability to answer questions of this type concern¬ 
ing culture applied to the use of materials on every hand, 
is well referred to as consumer literacy . Industrial arts is 
very much concerned with such questions as the above. 

Modern man is surrounded by an ever-increasing variety 
of material things. These include plastics, metals, woods, 
ceramics, foods, and textiles, in addition to hundreds of 
variations. The inventory of items found in homes of today 
is greater than at any previous period of history. All of 
this seems to point to a much-neglected phase of education, a 
phase which concerns things everyone uses and should enjoy 
to the fullest extent. Education in the arts and industries, 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 


9 


for every one, will make a more significant contribution than 
formerly if attention is directed to the understanding and 
mastery of our material environment. 

SOCIAL-ECONOMIC FORCES 

The person of a generation or two ago in rural New 
England witnessed economic and living conditions little 
different from those of an Italian community in the time 
of the Roman Empire, more than a thousand years before. 
Both communities used hand tools and practiced the house¬ 
hold industries; power driven machinery was unknown. 
Except for a few canals, the only means of transportation 
was by animal power, oxen or horses. Transportation costs 
were such that trade was mainly local and in hand-made 
products. The entire economic system was open to view and 
free from mystery. The difference between those condi¬ 
tions and the complexities of modern business and industry 
accounts for many of the problems of maladjustment and 
misunderstanding that now agitate society. The elements 
and the principles of social and economic life are the same 
today as then, but the relations existing between them have 
become obscured by their very complexity. Points such as 
these indicate a phase of life which industrial arts and its 
related social and physical sciences need to interpret. Ex¬ 
periences provided through industrial arts are important 
for a sound understanding, on the part of the pupil, of the 
social-economic forces and conditions operating in society. 

The school of today needs to interpret the ever-increasing 
number of significant changes which press for consideration 
on every hand. The school shop, for example, can no longer 
justify its program if youngsters only make traditional ob¬ 
jects out of wood and then take them home as they did a 
generation ago. Functions of the modern program require a 
much more significant contribution. Such programs now 
provide for: 

1. Activities in as many industries as school shops and labora¬ 

tories will permit. 

2. Use of typical and important industrial tools. 

3. Experience in production methods. 

4. Experience in handicrafts. 


10 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


5. Acquaintance with the organization and operation of indus¬ 

trial and commercial enterprises. 

6. Study of safe and hygienic ways of doing all types of work. 

7. Practice in identifying the more important methods em¬ 

ployed by industry. 

S'. Selection and use of some of the common products of in¬ 
dustry. 

9. Utilization of salvaged materials or products for project work. 

10. Interpretation of the sources, principles, and applications of 

power, such as steam, water, internal combustion, and 
electricity. 

11. Study of the origins and effects of significant inventions. 

12. Study of materials from source to completed object. 

13. Study of vocational opportunities, living conditions, remuner¬ 

ation of workers, controversial questions pertaining to 
capital, labor, and technology. 

All of these provide not only objective bases for develop¬ 
ing industrial arts programs but also criteria for judging 
their functions. 

Since “manual training” was introduced into the program 
of the American public schools in the early eighties, the 
social-economic character as well as many of the details of 
American society have been changed radically because of 
certain significant inventions and mechanical and electrical 
improvements. Some of these are: The telephone, the pho¬ 
nograph, the tungsten-filament lamp, the electric railroad, the 
central power station, the motion-picture camera and pro¬ 
jector, the steam turbine, the high-speed gasoline engine, the 
linotype and monotype in printing, the Diesel engine motor, 
the X-ray, high-speed tool steel and steel alloys, the air¬ 
plane, the radiotelephone, the vacuum tube, television, and 
radio broadcasting. 

It is important to recognize that the industrial arts pro¬ 
gram of today concerns itself with and draws its subject 
matter from such sources. Manipulation, though very 
important, is but a means and can be only one part of the 
whole program. A parallel of this is seen in the chemistry 
laboratory. A study of the social-economic character of the 
present day is necessary, a study which will enable the pupil 
to gain certain abilities, knowledges, appreciations, and atti¬ 
tudes that have become really vital to modern life. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 11 

More of this type of education is now possible, as the age 
at which pupils leave school is increasing, with a decided 
tendency for pupils to remain in school until 18, or until 
the completion of high school. Approximately 65 percent 
of the persons of high-school age are enrolled in high school. 
This average for the United States as a whole probably 
means that in a number of States the percentage is as high 
as TO. This provides essential time and maturity for study¬ 
ing many more significant developments in an industrial 
society than was possible a generation ago. Some curricu- 
lums now include such new topics as air-conditioning, 
sound-absorption, safety in driving, prefabricated housing, 
design and craftsmanship in many materials, lighting, appli¬ 
cations of modern procedures of business and industrial 
organization, and a study of occupational opportunities and 
trends. A reinterpretation of the school’s program is called 
for if education is to meet these all too obvious social and 
economic needs. 

The situation is rendered difficult by the problems result¬ 
ing in increased leisure. More than 20 years ago Dewey 
wrote that “the ability to produce and enjoy the arts, the 
capacity for -recreation, and the significant utilization of lei¬ 
sure, are more important elements than those conventionally 
associated with education and citizenship.” 

An industrial society is characterized by change, not only 
technological and occupational, but also social. Its very na¬ 
ture provides industrial arts with an amazing subject mat¬ 
ter which more than belies the overly specialized and poorly 
equipped programs often found in our schools. But the 
problem is so great that even in an ideal situation the indus¬ 
trial arts laboratory can serve only as a center from which 
should be directed many valuable field studies and experi¬ 
ences throughout all levels of the school program. 

EDUCATIONAL THOUGHT 

Many writers on industrial arts refer to educational 
thought and philosophy as far back as the Renaissance, but 
documentary evidence concerning “practical” as “useful” 


34968°—38 - 2 


12 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


education dates back more than 2,000 years before the birth 
of Christ. The stone tablets recently excavated at Ur in 
Chaldea reveal the laws under which young people learned 
how to do things. The Code of Hammurabi provides an¬ 
other example of early practices. Such laws were perfectly 
natural because the idea of “industry” or work is as old as 
civilization itself. While the industrial arts program pro¬ 
vides an effective background for later vocational education, 
it may and should be even more significant in education for 
living. This is borne out not only by the four origins which 
have been tested, but all through the history of realism in 
education. 

During the early part of the nineteenth century, while 
Pestalozzi was establishing his “object method” of teaching, 
a great industrial revolution was going on in Europe. The 
general need for more mechanical and scientific knowledge 
on the part of all potential workers caused great movements 
in this direction to flourish under philanthropic leadership. 
These were known as “mechanics institutes” and as “indus¬ 
trial lyceums.” They were especially prevalent in England 
and America. Manual labor schools were common in the 
eastern part of the United States 100 years ago. Schools for 
orphans were established simultaneously with industrial re¬ 
form schools. In all of these newer movements of education, 
the idea of manipulative work was introduced, not only for 
its economic usefulness but for its many other values as well. 
The desire for scientific and industrial supremacy in France 
and England during the nineteenth century caused these 
countries to establish many technical schools. 

As various countries gradually became aware of the gen¬ 
eral public need for technical information and training they 
introduced such work as a part of general education. Home 
craft (Hus Sloyd) work had long been the vogue in Sweden, 
with splendid outcomes so evident today in the many pieces 
of superior craftsmanship from that country. It was natural 
in the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876 that 
Della Vos, of Russia, should excite the interest of American 
school people with his exhibit of objects or exercises made 
in the Imperial Technical School of Moscow. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 13 


Dewey nearly 40 years ago stressed the fact that people 
learn through doing, or activity. In this he but echoed the 
voices of Plato, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, and Froebel. In his 
School and Society (1899) he wrote that “We must conceive 
of work in wood and metal, of weaving, sewing, and cooking, 
as methods of life; not as distinct studies, * * * but as 
instruments through which the school itself shall be made 
a genuine form of active community life.” In another para¬ 
graph he says: 

In educational terms, this means that these occupations in the 
school shall not be mere practical devices or modes of routine em¬ 
ployment, the gaining of better technical skill as cooks, seamstresses, 
or carpenters, but active centers of insight into natural materials and 
processes, points of departure whence children shall be led out into 
a realization of the historical development of man. 

Historically, industrial arts in public education has had its 
greatest development thus far on secondary school levels. 
Here it has passed through two somewhat well-defined pe¬ 
riods of professional growth and is now in the midst of a 
third. The first was named “manual training” by Runkle 
in 1877, and the emphasis was on hand skill, chiefly in wood¬ 
working. Exercises in wood and metal, patterned after the 
Russian plan, prevailed, and the program reverted generally 
to “keeping youngsters busy” on something which could be 
displayed at the end of the year and then taken home or 
thrown away. Wood is a stubborn material in the hands of 
adolescents, and as most of the work was done by hand, the 
results were not very satisfactory until other measures and 
motives were adopted. The controlling, though false, as¬ 
sumption seemed to be that the few skills mastered would 
have direct vocational bearing. The American need was 
different from that implied for Russia. 

The second period of development was named “manual 
arts” by Bennett in 1894. While the emphasis was still on 
skill, the philosophy was extended to include the making of 
both useful and well-designed articles, still principally by 
hand. The introduction of Sloyd work from Sweden during 
1888 in Boston by Larsson had a distinct influence on Ameri¬ 
can practice. Following this, considerable work was de¬ 
veloped in the schools in arts and crafts. This, of course, was 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


14 

wholesome, but all the time there was something going on in 
American life that was being missed by school programs, 
namely, the phenomenon of industry itself. 

The influence of industry brought about a third period 
of development, which was referred to by Richards, Russell, 
and Bonser, and others, as “industrial arts” (1906-10). 
The feeling was that all of the old that was good should be 
retained but that certain new concepts should dominate. 
One of the first ideas along with the origin of the junior 
high school in the second decade of the present century w^as 
to provide for broad orientation or exploration. Industrial 
arts began to call for a diversity rather than a specialization 
of skills. Many materials were used along with experiences 
in the basic techniques employed by industry. Bonser’s 
early definition, “Industrial arts is a study of the changes 
made by man in the forms of materials to increase their 
values, and of the problems of life related to these changes,” 
was but a modern interpretation of the aims of general 
education. 

CONCLUSIONS CONCERNING THE PROGRAM 

The subject matter and experience of industrial arts are 
derived from the type of society in which people now find 
themselves. Materials and techniques of production, to say 
nothing of consumption, are more involved than ever before. 
This is borne out by the study of origins of industrial arts, 
which indicates the sources of professional objectives and 
their use in a functioning program. Curriculum applica¬ 
tions are gaged by the resulting criteria. The idea of 
exploration , for example, means not only contacts with a 
wide variety of tools, materials, and techniques, but a study 
of occupational opportunities and interests extended even to 
actual tryouts in industry on the part of advanced adoles¬ 
cents. This principle of orientation has been extended to 
apply on all maturity levels, from earliest childhood through 
adolescence to adulthood. It is based upon the ever-present 
need for finding out about things. The industrial arts 
teacher is impressed at once by the importance of this ob¬ 
jective and should understand well the significance of its 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 15 

origins. The same is true of the idea of “intelligent con¬ 
sumption”— selecting , testing , operating , maintaining , and 
fudging products of industry are involved. Such an objec¬ 
tive applies from the time one considers a product of indus¬ 
try until it is fully consumed. Considerable significance is 
seen for the development of this particular objective in in¬ 
dustrial arts classes. 

The relationship of industrial arts to many other areas of 
the school and its ability to contribute to these is well 
known. The nature and media of industrial arts make it 
particularly well suited as a point of departure to accomplish 
desirable correlations and even a degree of integration. A 
chair, for example, has its history, art, arithmetic, botany, 
English, and even Latin. One thinks of a beautiful ceramic 
bowl as involving history, art, geology, chemistry, arith¬ 
metic, geography, English, as well as glaze decoration, fre¬ 
quently referred to by Italian or French names. Photog¬ 
raphy involves physics; and printing, which deals with trans¬ 
fers from relief, flush, and etched surfaces, involves certain 
effects having psychological significances. Most important 
of all, however, is that from the industrial arts program 
comes social implications of value both to the consumer and 
the producer. 

The criterion of industry points to certain laboratory pro¬ 
cedures which should be adopted in industrial arts classes, 
particularly on the secondary level. The old individual set 
of tools is replaced by the tool crib or wall panel. A per¬ 
sonnel organization directed by the teacher now manages 
the laboratory of industries. In this organization it is not 
at all unusual to discover a production foreman, a designing 
engineer, a merchandising manager, a chief clerk, a safety 
engineer, a tool-room foreman, and several line foremen op¬ 
erating the school laboratory. No topic having to do either 
with producers or consumers in an industrial society is ex¬ 
cluded from the discussions. This, of course, calls for a 
psychological rather than a logical or traditional classifica¬ 
tion of subject matter—units of study rather than jobs are 
favored. Projects become means rather than ends. It is the 
rule rather than the exception to develop the program in 


16 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


conference with the pupils or students involved. Text and 
reference materials are more widely used because the method 
of investigation or research becomes one of the most com¬ 
mon to be employed. Industrial arts, as a consequence, 
finds itself becoming increasingly more functional and there¬ 
fore more useful to the individual concerned. 


CHAPTER II: IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 


Need for the study of industrial arts .—The elementary 
grades constitute the period of foundational education, of 
training in the common subjects, of beginnings of concepts 
of industrial processes and interdependence of consumer 
and producer. Industry and the machine are prominent 
factors in our civilization, factors which any plan in edu¬ 
cation must consider. The complexity of modern industry 
with its constant improvements in methods and materials is 
difficult for a child to understand without a background of 
the simple principles and processes underlying it. In times 
past, a child through actual participation in home activities 
acquired a knowledge of industrial processes and some ap¬ 
preciation of the value of their products in his life. He had 
a share in the responsibility and, therefore, he knew the 
amount of time and labor that was required to produce the 
things his family needed and the tools and processes by 
which materials were made more usable. He had a well- 
rounded industrial education. 

Today opportunities for such first-hand knowledge are 
lacking. The child’s experience on the whole is with the 
finished products—stone already hewn, lumber that has been 
milled, steel girders assembled for building, clothing bought 
ready-made at the store or from a mail-order house, foods 
put up in cans, cartons, or packages. The product is ready 
for his use on demand. He does not realize the romance, 
the work, and struggle behind the scenes. He is unaware of 
the wonders of industrial achievement. He accepts the 
products he uses with little or no thought. Yet, as an intel¬ 
ligent member of society and as a wise consumer, he must 
know more than appears on the surface. Industrial arts as 
a content subject of the curriculum, through giving the 
child this background, contributes to his understanding of 
what is going on about him and to his living more intelli¬ 
gently. It is a study of the experiences of people in chang¬ 
ing materials into products to meet their needs and the needs 

17 




18 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


of others, and of the influences of these experiences upon the 
lives of people. 

No differentiation should be made on the elementary level 
in the opportunities in industrial arts offered to boys and 
girls. Both are consumers of the products of industry; 
both have needs for the traits that industrial arts aim to 
develop. As members of the same classes and social groups 
they should study their problems together. Each will tend 
to supplement the other because of their varying abilities 
and because of the keen interests they will probably take in 
different aspects of the same study. If the elementary school 
deals adequately with the problems and challenges of its 
pupils, it will include for both boys and girls the experi¬ 
ences inherent in industrial arts. 

Objectives .—No attempt is made on the elementary school 
level, grades 1 to 6, to cultivate vocational interests or possi¬ 
bilities. The purposes are, rather: 

To help the child understand what is going on about him in the 
industrial world: 

Materials that are used—their sources and characteristics. 

Products into which they are made and their values (in¬ 
trinsic, aesthetic, utilitarian). 

Changes that have been made in the materials—the causes, 
the effects: 

Struggles and problems of all people who have made 
the changes from early times. 

Tools and processes they used. 

Continual progress in industry: 

Constant search for new materials and methods. 

Contributions of science to this progress. 

To give him many opportunities to express himself concretely in 
a variety of media, always expecting that there will be a con¬ 
stantly improving technique with maturity and experience. 

To open a field of leisure-time activities in which he may find an 
interest. 

To contribute toward his acquiring the habit of thinking a job 
through: 

Seeing the thing to be done. 

Taking account of the situation, its resources, limitations, and 
possibilities. 

Trying to foresee and avoid difficulties. 

Making definite but tentative plans before beginning work. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 19 


Evaluating the work as it progresses so that as little time, 
effort, and materials as possible will be wasted because of 
error. 

To further the development of his appreciation of various people 
in terms of their culture: 

The interdependence of peoples in— 

Supplying materials. 

Making changes. 

Sharing new ideas and methods. 

Modern industry’s use of many of the principles and processes 
discovered by early people. 

The complexity and possibilities of modern machines as com¬ 
pared with primitive tools and devices. 

To help him become a wiser consumer and a more intelligent par¬ 
ticipant in a society that is markedly industrial. 

Typical child experiences .—Activities similar to those 
given below should characterize industrial arts work. In 
the beginning the activities will be of the simplest type; later 
they may be more varied and complex. 

Raising questions on things that interest or puzzle the children. 
Recalling pertinent experiences. 

Suggesting things to do or to make. 

Making choices. 

Gathering information from as many sources as possible: 
Listening to someone tell or read. 

Reading for one’s self. 

Studying pictures, models, films, samples, materials. 

Taking a trip or making a visit. 

Watching a demonstration. 

Asking someone who knows. 

Experimenting with materials, tools, and processes. 

Planning an individual project: 

Making a choice. 

Considering materials that could be used. 

Deciding on the one that is best for the purpose. 

Discussing some of the preliminary problems. 

Deciding on ways of working: 

Exercising care to keep everything clean. 

Evaluating the plan. 

Working on an individual project: 

Discovering new problems while working. 

Finding an answer to one’s own questions or asking for help 
on them. 

Watching a demonstration or another child’s method of work 
to clarify one’s own work. 


20 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


Making further plans as needed. 

Evaluating one’s own work. 

Deciding whether finished work serves the purpose. 
Suggesting things one will have to keep in mind for future 
work. 

Experimenting with materials, tools, and processes: 

Finding out how they react. 

Learning what causes things to happen: 

Why clay cracks in drying, wood splits in sawing, a nail 
refuses to hold, and saw jumps, or a thread breaks in 
spinning. 

Learning the value of the following procedures: 

Analyzing one’s own efforts. 

Studying another’s methods. 

Taking care of tools. 

Taking care of materials. 

Planning work on a class project: 

Sharing ideas and suggestions. 

Discussing relative merits of projects and ideas. 

Selecting the one that has more possibilities for serving class 
needs or ends. 

Helping to break up the big problem into subdivisions or 
work to be done: 

Discussing general ways and means. 

Listing things to be done. 

Deciding how to apportion the work. 

Considering individual interests and abilities. 

Choosing committees on which to work. 

Working as a committee: 

Discussing ways and means. 

Checking available materials, tools, references. 

Bringing in additional supplies, tools, and books that are 
needed. 

Getting necessary information from books, pictures, trips, 
friends, and neighborhood workers. 

Conferring with teacher or class as need arises. 

Pooling their findings: 

Checking with information of others. 

Deciding on essentials. 

Allotting individual jobs: 

Getting additional information. 

Making an article. 

Experimenting with materials. 

Making or adapting articles to serve their needs. 
Evaluating their work: 

Testing to see if it meets the need. 

Getting class suggestions. 

Improving or correcting when necessary. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 21 


Sharing their experiences with others: 

Planning and giving a party. 

Planning and making a museum or materials, models, sam¬ 
ples, articles that have been collected during a study and 
which others might like to see. 

Inviting parents or another class to see the work: 

Writing invitations. 

Deciding on spokesmen or guides. 

Suggesting the points the guides should make. 

Planning and giving an assembly program based on work in 
classroom: 

Considering the limitations set up because of— 

Time allowances. 

Room conditions. 

Audience. 

Selecting the topics that would be most interesting, worth 
while, and practical. 

Suggesting how they could be worked out. 

Writing a play, selecting the music and dances. 

Making a book that tells of their experiences. 

Writing a report of an experience for a newspaper, class, school, 
community. 

ELEMENTARY INDUSTRIAL ARTS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS 
GRADES 1 TO 3 

In these grades, the child should have rich experiences with 
the materials of industry around him and with simple ways 
of changing them to meet his needs. His interest is centered 
more or less on his home, school, and neighborhood, where he 
daily comes in contact with innumerable products of indus¬ 
try that are made from materials easily obtained and easily 
manipulated—materials with which he can satisfy a need. 
As his interests broaden, he learns about many people. He 
finds how various peoples have worked with raw materials 
and devised ways and means of making them serve their 
needs for food, clothing, shelter, records, utensils and con¬ 
tainers, and tools and machines. 

Orientation in materials of industry .—The teacher should 
provide many experiences that will make the materials in the 
child’s life more meaningful. He should become acquainted 
with the possibilities of clay, textiles, skins, paper, wood, and 
foods. As he adapts these materials to meet his needs, prob¬ 
lems in subject matter will probably arise. This content 
might include: The sources of the materials, the objects the 


22 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


child sees around him that are made from them, the story of 
the processes carried on in making changes in the materials, 
and the characteristics of the materials and products learned 
by working with and using them. 

With many children the natural way of beginning may be 
for the teacher to provide a work period during which the 
learners, independently, will become acquainted with a few 
of the manipulative possibilities of various materials and, 
as needed, with some of the tool techniques. The character 
of this work will depend upon the previous experiences of the 
children, on the size of the class, on the teacher, on the mate¬ 
rials available, and on the facilities for working. 

The work undertaken should be based upon the child’s 
desire to make something for himself or others. Toys, gifts, 
trips, favorite stories or poems, holidays, and festivals are 
full of interest for the child and offer many possibilities for 
experiences with materials. An interest in dolls, for ex¬ 
ample, may lead to the making of a family of dolls and the 
things they need. A study stimulated by this interest might 
be developed in several ways, for example, the class as a 
whole may use one material only; the pupils may be divided 
into two groups each working with a different material; or 
they may work as individuals being encouraged to make a 
choice of media. In individual experimentation, one child 
may adapt a box for a room or garage, another may make a 
wooden bed, a fur coat, or a woolen dress for a doll, a wagon 
or clay bowl for someone’s birthday. The child will find in 
working that he must consider many things, for example, 
how the grain should run in the wood for the handle of a 
wagon, or for a toy animal with legs and a tail; whether 
cloth or paper should be used for the cover of a record book 
that will be handled again and again; how the gifts that the 
children have constructed can be made more attractive. Such 
points should be so treated that the child will be led to ob¬ 
serve how other people have solved these problems, to com¬ 
pare the methods that have been used, and to select the one 
that best meets his needs. This orientation with materials, 
processes, and products should help the teacher to discover 
the child’s particular ability, weaknesses that need strength¬ 
ening, or tendencies that need to be curbed. 


ITS INTERPRETATION TN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 23 


Since the very young child is not group minded, it is a part 
of his learning that he become interested in the needs of the 
group. As soon as possible, therefore, the teacher should 
lead the children from their purely individual interests into 
group interests and activities. Preparation for a party or a 
puppet show, furnishing a play corner or a library corner 
provide ample opportunity for group work which is the 
method of acquiring social habits and attitudes. 

Home and neighborhood industries .—As the child’s ex¬ 
periences grow and his skills increase, the subject matter 
should include a study of some of the industrial processes 
carried on by people in the neighborhood. The study should 
bring out the products the people make for us; the tools, 
materials, and processes they use; and the interdependence 
that exists between the child’s family and the other workers. 

As new interests develop from ongoing studies, the chil¬ 
dren will find new problems. They may want a house to live 
in or one for their dolls; they may need a store in which to 
buy and sell—a fleet of trucks, a freight train, an airplane to 
transport the products for the store—they may be going on 
a picnic or giving a party, preparing for a play or show. 
Each of these interests is full of opportunities for problem 
solving, for cooperative enterprises, for manual activities 
with a variety of materials, and for the acquisition of new 
understandings and appreciations. 

The subject matter which may be developed during these 
activities may include such points as these: 

Ways in which the thing being studied is affecting the life of the 
learner. 

The products: 

Source and manufacture: 

People who help to produce the product. 

Characteristics and varied uses: 

Distribution to the consumers. 

Value and care. 

The materials used in the products: 

Sources, limitations, possibilities. 

Processes in securing and preparing them. 

Story of man’s progress in learning how to make such products. 

The beginnings of industries .—As his studies and readings 
bring out the contrast between his own environment and 
that of other peoples, and the glamour and adventure of 


24 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


their lives begin to stimulate his imagination, the child wants 
to do the things they did. Authors, today, are giving more 
thought to such interests of the children. Books are full of 
colorful illustrations and vivid descriptions of the lives and 
industries of many people, and contain suggestions for work 
with tools and materials. Some of these books for children 
relate the story of food gatherers and hunters such as the 
Eskimo, the Jungle People, the Tropical Island People. 
Others tell about primitive farmers and herdsmen such as 
the early Hebrews, various Indian groups, the nomads of the 
desert, and others. This material is invaluable for the child 
when he is able to read and search out information for him¬ 
self. 

No matter what study is being planned, the teacher and 
children should become acquainted with the facilities offered 
by the neighborhood; the types of work and materials that 
may be seen; displays in store windows that are pertinent; 
people who may be willing to bring in articles they have, and 
tell about them or show them. The children should be led 
to consider such questions as these: Who in the community 
can best help us ? Are there pictures available ? How can 
the library help us? 

The teacher should be familiar with materials that are 
free for the asking from the Government, the State, the 
local chamber of commerce, stores, and industries near and 
far. She will find, however, that certain modifications may 
be necessary before one can use these illustrative materials. 
They will need to be submitted to a critical eye. The teacher 
may well ask herself such questions as these: Can this pic¬ 
ture be used as it is? Would certain changes, eliminations, 
or combinations, make these materials serve a better pur¬ 
pose? Would it not be better to mount these pictures sep¬ 
arately so that they can be available for future use? Will 
this one function better in the approach or in the develop¬ 
ment or in the summary ? 

The teacher and children may approach any study in in¬ 
dustrial arts by using leads that arise in class—questions the 
children may ask about things that interest them in and out 
of school, suggestions they may make while working with 
other studies in the curriculum, preferences they show, and 
needs they may have. At other times the teacher may have 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 25 


to use pictures and other illustrative material or suggest the 
possibilities in working on a particular topic in order to 
extend the work they have been doing. The enterprise is, 
educationally the means toward an end—the growth of the 
child—and not an end in itself. 

Any study, large or small, that contributes to the growth 
of the child is valuable. The teacher, however, must evalu¬ 
ate the possibilities of each worthwhile lead: How much it 
can build on the experiences of the children in and out of 
school? How much opportunity it will offer them for ex¬ 
perimentation on their own level with materials and proc¬ 
esses, and for solving their own problems? What leads it 
may offer for new studies? What changes the study may 
make in the children’s living and thinking? 

If on the basis of such questions the teacher feels that 
certain enterprises are worth while, she and the children are 
ready to make their decision and will proceed to study their 
problems and to find ways and means of meeting them. 

The following outlines suggested the type of content that 
may develop during the study of the industrial arts of any 
people. The outlines imply types of manipulative activities 
in which the children may engage and points of departure 
for w T ork in other subject fields. 

Study of food: 

Kinds of food eaten: 

Sources of the food: 

Causes and effects of abundance or lack of food. 

Proximity of home to food supply: 

Ways of travel to reach distant foods. 

Methods used in bringing the foods home. 

Advantages of having stores and markets in one’s 
neighborhood. 

Methods used in securing food: 

Weapons, tools, and containers used: 

Ways of making them. 

Reasons for selection of materials. 

Ways of using them. 

Work of the men, women, and children. 

Preparation of foods: 

Processes: 

How the processes compare with those which the child 
sees in his own environment. 

How the method of making fire compares with striking 
a match or the use of a pilot burner. 


26 


INDUSTRIAL. ARTS 


Tools and containers: 

Ways of making and using them. 

Methods of decorating them. 

Work of the men, women, and children. 

Manners and customs relative to food: 

Meal time among the people. 

Our meal time. 

Preservation of foods: 

Methods used—compared with our methods. 

Reasons for preservation. 

Foods we eat that have been preserved. 

Dances, festivals, games that are related to food activities of the 
people. 

Study of clothing: 

The dress of the people—men, women, and children: 

Garments, footwear, head coverings, and ornaments: 
Similar articles of clothing we wear. 

Processes used in making clothing: 

Materials used in them: 

Sources of the materials. 

Tools used in obtaining them. 

Methods of preparing the materials: 

Tools used: 

Materials used in making tools. 

Work of the tools. 

Making the clothing: 

Ways of fashioning the garments: 

Tools used. 

Fasteners used: 

Materials of which made. 

Preparation of the fasteners. 

Conditions under which clothing is made—compared 
with our conditions. 

Decorations and accessories: 

Means of decoration. 

Materials and methods used. 

Meaning of symbols used in decoration. 

Similar designs or symbols used in decoration of clothing 
in class. 

Work of the men, women, and children in providing clothing. 
Relation of clothing and costume to natural environmental 
conditions. 

Care of clothing: 

Repair. 

Cleanliness. 

Study of shelter: 

Kinds of shelter used: 

Reasons for each type. 

Reason for location. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 27 


Reasons children’s parents had for selecting their house. 

Adaptation to environment. 

Adherence to mores and custom. 

Ways of building: 

Materials used, reasons: 

Buildings in the neighborhood made of similar ma¬ 
terials. 

Preparation of materials. 

Adaptation of materials to the need. 

Tools used: 

Kinds. 

Materials in them. 

Methods of using them. 

Work of the men, women, and children. 

Interior of the home: 

Arrangement. 

Furnishings. 

Provisions for heat, light, and water. 

Activities in or near the home: 

Work of the family. 

Feasts. 

Dances and games. 

Story-telling. 

Care of home: 

Sanitation. 

Aesthetic factors. 

GRADES 4 TO 6 

With its emphasis upon the children’s own problems and 
their interest in common materials, simple processes, and 
types of industries found in their immediate environment 
and among various peoples, the work in the first three grades 
lays the foundation for further industrial arts studies. 
Work on the higher level—grades 4 to 6—should help the 
child to understand something about how and why our 
machine age has developed, how interdependence has grown 
with industry, how changes are still being made, and how, 
despite the changes, many of the processes and principles 
used in industry today are the same as those discovered and 
used by early people. 

Industry prior to the industrial revolution .—The home 
and community industries of colonial people offer excellent 
material for study, material that will help to explain the 
complexities of our industries today. The colonists not only 

34968°—38-3 



28 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


came in contact with a primitive people, but at first had to 
live under rather primitive conditions themselves. As time 
passed, household industries increased and the family, the 
itinerant workers, and those in local shops and mills met 
practically all the needs of the community. This period 
offers a clear picture of industry prior to the industrial revo¬ 
lution, industry as a colonial boy or girl knew it. 

Textbooks, histories, readers, and story books offer all 
sorts of graphic descriptions and narrations that make this 
period real to the child. At present the children’s books deal 
primarily with the life of the New England colonists. Since 
printed material for other colonists is somewhat difficult to 
obtain, the children’s research will often be based on these 
books. But, whenever possible, the teacher should contrast 
the industries of New England with those of other regions 
having home industries. Study material may be found in 
colonial exhibits and in museums or in art, literature, or 
music which reflect the life of the colonial period. Grand¬ 
mother may have a flax wheel; a second-hand shop may lend 
a wool wheel or candle mold. 

Through the use of such materials as these, the child be¬ 
gins to visualize the experiences of a colonial child. What 
can he do to understand even better the life in colonial times ? 
He can make maple sugar and have some of the fun a co¬ 
lonial child had: Dip a candle and see how careful one must 
be so that the wax will adhere to the wick; pour some can¬ 
dles and see the improvement in method; spin a thread and 
sense the skill and rhythm that are necessary; listen to a 
record of a spinning song that shows a musician’s interpreta¬ 
tion of the wheel; watch a visitor spin on a flax or a wool 
wheel, try it himself; weave on a harness loom; work in 
metal and wood. In doing things like these and in studying 
the related content that may be developed with them, the 
child acquires some knowledge of the way in which the 
colonists lived and worked, of the materials they used, and 
of the ways in which these were changed to meet their needs. 
He gains an appreciation of the ease and comforts he has in 
comparison with the difficulties and discomforts a colonial 
child experienced. The content of such a study may include 
the following points: 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 29 


Industries within the home: 

Cooking, baking, and preserving of foods: 

Foods the colonists knew and brought from the old 
country and new foods they learned to use. 

Recipes they used which we still use. 

The fireplace with its array of iron, copper, and pewter 
utensils: 

Modern fireplace—its function. 

Utensils made in the home or imported from England. 
Manners and customs in serving and eating food: 

Comparison between colonial implements, con¬ 
tainers, and furnishings, and those we use today. 
The work of boys and girls, men and women: 
Providing food. 

Making maple sugar, cheese, butter, bread. 

Making the necessary utensils and containers. 
Preparing and making cloth, clothing, and furnishings: 
Preparing fibers for spinning: 

Steps (vary with fiber). 

Differences between flax fibers and those of wool or cot¬ 
ton. 

Tools used. 

Uses of waste materials. 

Spinning the fibers: 

Steps—pulling, twisting, winding. 

Flax wheels vs. wool wheels: 

Differences in size and use. 

Advantages over spindles used by primitive peoples. 
Reels for winding the yarn. 

Weaving cloth: 

Steps—making a shed, picking, beating the filling threads 
into place, winding cloth. 

Harness loom: 

Purposes of harnesses, cloth and warp beams; ad¬ 
vantages of harness loom over looms used by primi¬ 
tive people. 

Meaning of “homespun” cloth. 

Reasons for variety and quantity of textiles we have 
today. 

Making dyes and coloring materials: 

Sources of the dyes. 

Methods used in dyeing yarns, cloth, rags: 

Home dyeing today. 

Making clothing and furnishings: 

Sewing garments: 

Variations in costume. 

Making samplers, quilts. 

Braiding or hooking rugs—strips made from worn-out 
clothing. 


30 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


Work of boys and girls, men and women. 

Providing light: 

Securing “candlewood” or pitch pine for torches to he placed 
near fireplace. 

Making candles: 

Difficulties in collecting sufficient materials. 

Methods used. 

Advantages of molding over dipping: 

Itinerant candlemaker. 

Candle holders: 

Variety. 

Materials used. 

Comparing candles with modern lighting facilities. 

Making chests and other pieces of furniture: 

Kinds of wood used, sources. 

Tools the worker had : 

How these compare with primitive tools and with those 
we use. 

Types of furniture made: 

Importance of chest. 

Decorations used. 

Fastenings used: 

Making pegs, hinges, nails: 

Advantages of modern machine production. 

Colonial reproductions used today, why. 

Making soap. 

Securing materials: 

Collecting fat. 

Making lye. 

Methods of making soap—then and now. 

Comparison with soaps we use—color, perfume, purpose. 
Industries in the community: 

In the shop adjacent to the home, in mills along streams: 
Baking. 

Cabinet making. 

Printing, type casting, and binding. 

Shoe making. 

Working in metal—iron, pewter, silver. 

Grinding meal and flour. 

Paper making. 

Wood turning. 

Making buckskin and tanning leather. 

Ship building. 

Making bricks and pottery. 

Industries similar to colonial ones that may be found today in 
the community. 

Differences between colonial and modern workers, methods, 
products. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 31 


The study may center about the life of colonial boys and 
girls—the work they did, the things they saw, their school 
life, and their home life. It should bring out similarities 
and contrasts between their life and the child’s life now. 
How rich the study can be made will depend to a large de¬ 
gree on the facilities of the school and neighborhood and the 
materials that are available. Some industries may be 
studied in detail; others may only be mentioned. The study 
may be summarized by a colonial play, a fair or market, or 
an exhibition of colonial articles lent by parents, friends, 
and children, or made by the class. The children will not 
only work with tools and materials and learn some of the 
processes in industry, but will come to realize through this 
colonial study that the simple hand-made machines run by 
man, animal, wind, or water power could not continue to 
supply the demands of a growing nation. 

Modern industries .—The demands for more products, 
more comforts, and more luxuries led to inventions in ma¬ 
chinery that would offset the scarcity of labor and yet speed 
up production. The relation that exists between industry 
today and in earlier times, the effects of inventions and 
scientific discoveries upon industry, the resulting influence 
on the lives of the people furnish the child with significant 
materials for a study of modern industry. 

What resources are available for the child in this study? 
Industry itself can offer many thought-provoking problems, 
can answer questions that are puzzling him, open up new 
interests, and broaden his knowledge and understanding. 
Almost every community has facilities that can be used 
for first-hand experience—a dye house or a textile mill, a 
canning factory or a meat-packing establishment, a news¬ 
paper plant or a publishing house, a paper mill, a bindery, a 
saw works, or a toy or furniture factory, any one of which is 
rich in interest for the child. The museums display furni¬ 
ture, rugs, costumes, books, pottery, glassware, and imple¬ 
ments that illustrate various stages in man’s achievement. 
Writers of children’s books are beginning to sense the ro¬ 
mance in industry’s development and are describing in vivid 
detail the cause and effect of each stride forward. 


32 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


The child at this level should begin to understand the 
gradual progress industry has made from times past, the 
contributions of various peoples to industry of today, and 
the materials and methods people have used that served their 
needs but were supplanted as something better was discov¬ 
ered or invented. He will begin to know something of the 
characteristics of modern industry; its dependence on all 
parts of the world for raw materials and for markets for its 
products; its continual investigation and research for new 
materials and new methods; its contributions to us in added 
comfort, ease in doing things, and increased time for leisure. 

There are a number of areas of human endeavor which 
the children may profitably explore in gaining a better 
understanding of what industry has contributed to life. In 
the industrial arts field these areas are concerned with how 
man has provided himself with such things as pottery, cloth¬ 
ing, building materials, the book, power, food, paper, and 
furniture. The study of these may be helpful in under¬ 
standing race progress. Exploring them will call for pupil 
experiences in industrial processes and may make use of 
skills and knowledges acquired in other subjects. It will call 
for experimentation, construction, and much use of library 
facilities. Of all these studies, some teachers have found 
that the book offers the most appeal for the child. He uses 
books constantly in school and at home. He goes to the 
library to select the books he wants. He buys some of his 
own books. He must know how to care for these. Ques¬ 
tions of print, binding, illustration, and serviceability may 
come to be significant to him. A study of books, their 
manufacture and their development, and the actual con¬ 
struction of some bound books should help to solve many of 
the problems he faces as a consumer. The following activi¬ 
ties may be carried on by the children in such a study: 

Pooling their knowledge of books. 

Deciding on some of the things they wish to know about books: 

Listing the suggestions, weighing them, grouping them under 
headings. 

Discussing ways of attacking the problems. 

Planning specific methods of ’work: 

Research, reading, construction, experimentation, trips. 

Individual and group responsibilities. 

Setting up standards of work. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 33 


Bringing in reference books, illustrative materials to supplement 
those in school: 

Sharing the findings from various books and other sources. 
Finding out what materials various peoples used in record keep¬ 
ing. 

Gathering materials similar to those used in other days. 
Experimenting with materials used in record keeping: 

Forming tablets of clay or wax and writing on them. 

Making scrolls from papyrus. 

Curing skin for parchment. 

Making brush, stylus, pen. 

Mixing ink. 

Casting type. 

Making paper pulp from rags. 

Comparing their products with similar museum or commercial 
articles. 

Studying about the people who used these articles: 

Environment, manners, customs, writing, and record keeping. 
Collecting pictures that show important contributions to the 
development of records: 

Evaluating individual pictures. 

Selecting those that are most suitable. 

Arranging them artistically to tell the story clearly. 

Labeling the collection. 

Planning a visit to a library, a bookshop, an industrial plant, a 
museumvisiting; reporting and discussing findings. 

Making models that illustrate stages in book development. 
Analyzing the construction of books to discover what they know, 
problems that are new. 

Making books (similar to commercial ones) to be used for— 
Individual records of experiences and things learned in “The 
Study of Books.” 

Collections of stamps, photographs, addresses, recipes. 

Class poems, class records, notes. 

Illuminating and hand lettering a text such as a holiday greeting. 
Planning, etching, and printing a book plate. 

Constructing book ends or book racks to meet individual require¬ 
ments. 

Studying slides or films of newspaper or book making. 

Listening to an illustrated talk by a visitor interested in books or 
printing. 

Experimenting with the making of printing, plates: 

Stereotype: 

Making a mat or using an old newspaper matrix. 

Fitting matrix into flat box or curved casting box (home¬ 
made). 

Pouring in melted wax or lead. 

Printing from the plate. 

Comparing print with proof from commercial plate. 


34 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


Electrotype: 

Examining commercial wax molds, shells, plates. 
Watching a demonstration of electrolysis—copper being 
deposited on wax mold coated with graphite. 
Comparing the deposit with commercial “shell.” 

Printing from an electrotype. 

Making a collection of old books and printed materials found in 
the community: 

Examining old books. 

Repairing and caring for books. 

Planning and giving an assembly program to share experiences 
with others: 

Discussing relative merits of suggestions. 

Deciding what is possible, considering the: 

Time that is available. 

Room conditions. 

Stage properties required. 

As the children follow their individual interests in this 
study—gathering pertinent information; making a needed 
article of wood, clay, skin, paper, metal; experimenting with 
tools and processes—and bring their findings to bear upon 
the class problems, much of the following content will prob¬ 
ably be developed : 

Books we use today: 

Diversity of content. 

Attractiveness of form. 

Illustrations. 

Legibility. 

Durability. 

Value to us. 

Vast numbers produced. 

Modest cost. 

Libraries: 

Public, private, school: 

How to use the library: 

The card index. 

Classification of books by numbers. 

How libraries came to be— 

Kind of books they contained in times past—in 
Egypt, Babylonia, Greece, Rome. 

Materials available in these lands. 

Tools that were used in writing by— 

School boy. 

Scribes. 

Advantages and disadvantages of the various ma¬ 
terials compared with paper. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 


35 


Home: 

Interesting books for a child to own. 

Use of bookcases, book racks, book ends, bookmark, and 
bookplates. 

Publishing houses that supply us with books: 

Editor’s and author’s manuscript. 

Printers and the manuscript: 

Setting up the pages: 

Linotype and monotype machines. 

Electrotypes. 

Workers. 

Printing the pages: 

Presses used: 

Speed. 

Pages printed at a time. 

Work of the pressman. 

Folding the pages: 

Machines and workers. 

Illustrations and the artist, the photographer and engraver: 
Photographing the illustration on sensitized film or plate. 
Preparing the printing plate: 

Etching. 

Halftone. 

Illustrations in color and the pressman: 

Color printing: 

Making colored inks. 

The printed pages and the bookbinders: 

Collating, sewing, and preparing pages for the covers: 

Machines used. 

Making the cover: 

Materials and machines used. 

Finishing the book. 

History of the book: 

Development of modern book form from flat sheets and 
scrolls. 

Handwritten books in the Middle Ages: 

The work of the monks and their influence: 

Tools and materials they used: 

Sources and method. 

Early printed books—about the time of Columbus: 

Invention of movable type by Gutenberg: 

Education among the people at that time: 

Block books, tracts. 

Difficulties of printing from carved blocks of wood. 
Advantages of single letters as units: 

Style of letters used. 

Method of molding or casting the letters. 

The materials used in the covers, their decoration: 
Preparation of leather. 


36 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


The printing of the book: 

Methods: 

Casting the type. 

Setting up or composing the text. 

Printing two pages at a time from: 

Type—text. 

Carved wooden blocks or engraved plates— 
illustrations. 

Workers—their training, costumes. 

Time required. 

The binding of the book: 

Method. 

Workers. 

Influence of spread of knowledge and of demand on books 
and printing: 

Invention of better presses: 

Sturdier, faster platen presses of iron. 

Newer presses—cylinder, rotary. 

Invention of automatic type-casting machine to replace 
hand casting. 

Invention of machine that not only casts type but sets it 
up like the copy. 

Experimentation with new materials in paper making and 
bindings. 

Use of the mold idea in making printing plates to dupli¬ 
cate printing matter. 

Use of photography in making printing plates for pic¬ 
tures and illustrations. 

Inventions of machines for making covers of books and 
for binding after printing press has done its work. 
Specialization of modern workers. 

Care of books: 

Value of clean hands. 

Best ways of: 

Opening new books. 

Holding books. 

Marking one’s place in book. 

Removing book from shelf. 

Care of books when not in use: 

Putting away properly. 

Dusting. 

Simple repairing. 

ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF ELEMENTARY 
INDUSTRIAL ARTS 

CLASSROOM TEACHER AND EQUIPMENT 

Grades 1 to 3 .—In these grades industrial arts can readily 
be taught by the classroom teacher—the content is simple, 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 37 

the skills are few, the necessary equipment is limited. One 
set of tools for each classroom is desirable but, if necessary, 
one set may suffice for several classes if the various classes 
can cooperate in the use of them. Experience will show 
how many of each tool will be required to meet specific con¬ 
ditions but the set should include compass, coping, and hack 
saws, hammers, braces and bits, try-squares, and small 
clamps. The best tools manufactured should be used for 
this purpose and should always be kept in repair. The up¬ 
keep is small and the original cost, spread over a period of 
years, is not large. If conditions warrant, it is an excellent 
plan to have each classroom equipped with such facilities as 
the following: Running water, a 1-plate burner, ample stor¬ 
age, a limited number of tools, a work bench or table pro¬ 
vided with one or more vises, a hinged shelf along the wall 
for additional work space, a display panel, and an enclosed 
case for illustrative materials. 

Grades ^ to 6 .—Classrooms in these grades should be 
equipped in a fashion similar to that suggested for the first 
three grades. This will permit simple experimentation and 
activities to be carried on in the classroom. As phases of 
on-going enterprises become more complex and require 
more varied use of tools and supplies or a broader knowl¬ 
edge of content and a more specific skill with tools than the 
grade teacher possesses, the children should be able to call on 
a specialized teacher for help. 

SPECIALIST TEACHER AND LABORATORY 

This teacher should be a man or woman who has majored 
in the field. He should have a shop or laboratory that is 
equipped for individual and group work. This necessi¬ 
tates flexibility in equipment, in supplies, and in reference 
books to care for the needs of the various groups at work— 
at one time, a group of 7-year-olds may bring their prob¬ 
lems to him; at another, it may be several groups of 11-year- 
olds. This shop can afford many opportunities for experi¬ 
mentation and can be a rich source of help with its collec¬ 
tion of samples, illustrative materials, and books. The room 
should be provided with running water, a range, plenty of 


38 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


storage space, ample display panels, bulletin boards, and 
blackboards. There should be work benches and tables, 
tools, and other equipment for working with a variety of 
materials. The time of the specialist and the use of the 
laboratory should be adjusted to the conditions and needs of 
each school. 

The specialist should work with the classroom teachers 
in planning for the children’s needs. His broad background 
of industrial information and his specific skills w 7 ill supple¬ 
ment the classroom teacher’s specific knowledge of the chil¬ 
dren and of their work. Industrial arts studies may be car¬ 
ried on by the regular teacher in her classroom or by this 
teacher and the specialist working together wdth the chil¬ 
dren in the classroom or in the shop as the need arises. 

In many of our school systems the boys of grades 5 and 6 
have been going to a shop for special training in industrial 
arts while the girls are having sewing. Time and thought 
will be needed to adapt this set-up to meet the suggestions 
which this discussion proposes. 

TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

How much a child will grow through his experiences in 
industrial arts at any one level will depend on the teacher’s 
ability to sense and to give him the kind of help and direc¬ 
tion he needs as an individual. The teacher must know 
what experiences the child has had and what learnings he 
has acquired, and should teach him to use these in interpret¬ 
ing new situations and in solving new problems. The 
teacher must realize the possibilities for problem solving 
that are inherent in industrial arts activities, activities that 
are motivated by keen interest on the part of the child. He 
must seize the child’s interest at the right moment and make 
it function in building desirable attitudes, habits, and skills. 
He must be sufficiently versatile in industrial arts skills to 
help the learner acquire standards of work in many manipu¬ 
lative activities. He must be broad in his interests and 
knowledge. The teacher must interpret values in terms of 
child living and must know how such values develop; he 
must realize the part each activity may play in furthering 
child growth. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 39 

Many communities may lack classroom teachers trained 
in industrial arts. This need can be met in several ways. 
Teachers already in service who have no industrial arts 
background can perhaps be trained locally to do the work. 
Courses in industrial arts and special help can be given them 
to meet their specific needs. Prospective teachers can be 
prepared in teacher-training schools, many of which include 
industrial arts as part of their curriculum, offering required 
courses in industrial arts for all students and elective courses 
in addition for those who wish to specialize in the field. The 
specialist should, in addition to specializing in industrial 
arts, meet the requirements for teaching in the elementary 
field. As in the grades, the specialized teacher may be 
man or woman, the criterion being a live interest, a pleasing 
personality, a cooperative attitude, and an ability to teach. 

CONSULTANT OR SUPERVISOR 

In some communities, an industrial arts supervisor may 
fit into the educational scheme. This man or woman, work¬ 
ing with the principal, teachers, and children, should be re¬ 
sponsible for improving the teaching of industrial arts. As 
a consultant and leader of teachers he should assist them 
in making tentative plans. It is his responsibility to keep in 
mind the total work of the children and to hold it in rela¬ 
tionship to their interests, capacities, experiences, and en¬ 
vironing conditions. Whenever necessary he should take 
a series of lessons with the children in order to demonstrate 
to the teacher a method or procedure that has been under 
discussion. He should be responsible for knowing and ac¬ 
quainting the teachers with trends in the field, reference 
books, illustrative materials, samples, new types of mate¬ 
rials. He should be able to lead the teachers to share their 
experiences and to make suggestions in the development 
of the work. He should help the teachers to interpret the 
value of their work in terms of the growth of the children. 
This means responsibility for leadership in curriculum 
building and for teacher training in service. 


40 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


CURRICULUM DIRECTOR 

In some large communities there may be needed a leader 
or director according to the administrative set-up. He or 
she should lead these consultants or supervisors in coordi¬ 
nating their work and in developing for themselves an over¬ 
view of the curricular problems of industrial arts in the 
whole school system. 


CHAPTER III: IN THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 


The term “junior high school,” as used in this bulletin, 
refers to a program of education especially adapted to the 
problems of boys and girls during their early adolescent 
years. The characteristics of these boys and girls during 
this period should determine the part which industrial arts 
may contribute to their education. In the broad sense in 
which a complete program of industrial arts is now con¬ 
ceived it becomes an essential element in the educational 
program of all boys and girls, but the means by which it is 
presented may vary to conform to the local administrative 
organization and physical environment. 

The junior high school provides a period of exploration 
and guidance preliminary to choice of a career or voca¬ 
tional training. Industrial arts, as a part of general edu¬ 
cation, in these years ( a ) provides information regarding 
industry and workers; (b) reveals employment opportuni¬ 
ties offered by industry; (<?) satisfies the boy’s and girl’s 
desire to create useful things; ( d) develops hobby and 
handy-man interests and abilities; ( e ) contributes to the 
tastes and judgment of the prospective consumer; (/) de¬ 
velops interest and ability in home repairs and maintenance; 
(g) affords practice in safety related to the school, home, 
and industry; (h) gives opportunity for cooperative effort 
in groups; and (i) illustrates and vitalizes the academic 
subjects. 

These same interests prevail among boys and girls who 
are enrolled in the seventh and eighth grades of elementary 
schools. One of our urgent problems is to so organize our 
industrial arts teaching that boys and girls in these ele¬ 
mentary schools may have opportunities that at least 
approximate those of the junior high school. Considerable 
progress has been made in this direction by means of an 
organization known as a general shop in which a variety of 

41 




42 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


activities are in operation simultaneously under the direc¬ 
tion of one teacher. 

EXPANDING INTERESTS OF ADOLESCENCE 

The characteristics of adolescents provide the teacher of 
industrial arts with a rare privilege. It is his opportunity 
to capitalize the naturally expanding interests in the mate¬ 
rial things of our modern industrial civilization. Explora¬ 
tion through investigation and experimentation are prac¬ 
ticed by very young children, but to pupils of 12 to 15 years 
of age these experiences take on a new meaning. In the 
earlier years the toy or make-believe approach, coupled with 
imagination, serves to satisfy their curiosity, but there comes 
a time when function and the details of materials and con¬ 
struction of an industrial product become increasingly 
important to them. Pupils’ attention is drawn in many 
directions by a world of challenging problems in the field of 
industrial production. They seek through the use of tools 
and materials to solve these problems, but often, if their 
efforts are not supervised and stimulated, they are satisfied 
with very crude results. While serving the purpose of 
developing understanding to a limited degree, these efforts 
on the part of pupils lack attention to details of exact form 
and measurement, to the selection of the most appropriate 
materials, and to the best type of construction, all of which 
are so essential in a realistic world. Skillful teaching enters 
here, not to coerce, but gradually to develop an appreciation 
of refinement in workmanship, for there is no particular 
value to the individual in having made something unless it 
gives evidence of his or her own thinking, planning, and 
painstaking effort. The development of such an apprecia¬ 
tion at this time is often the first step in the recognition and 
acceptance of adult standards of workmanship on which 
modern industrial life is so dependent. 

While it is important that the educational program be 
continuously progressive at all times, it is particularly im¬ 
portant during the early adolescent years that boys and 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 43 

girls have their horizon greatly enlarged. This may be ac¬ 
complished in many ways including a new school program, 
new surroundings if possible, and especially new things to 
do and learn. There is little educational value in their just 
doing more of the same thing at any school level. There is 
value in going to a different school, in being taught by dif¬ 
ferent teachers, and in meeting and working with new class¬ 
mates. In this changing situation social adjustments, as 
well as the development of individual traits, should be en¬ 
couraged and stimulated, not as byproducts, but as desirable 
outgrowths of activities in which boys and girls are inter¬ 
ested and in which they should carry a large share of 
responsibility. We should be interested in this sharing of 
responsibility because industrial-arts activities provide an 
excellent setting for its development. 

Most boys and girls are not interested in skill as the term 
is usually understood, although in the past this has been 
the chief aim of many teachers of shop work. In this bulle¬ 
tin, consideration of boys’ and girls’ interests through which 
an appreciation of the value of skill may be developed, pre¬ 
cedes the discussion of skill itself. It is not the intention 
here to undervalue skill, but rather to emphasize the educa¬ 
tional value of knowledge, understanding, and appreciation. 
It is well also to consider skill as a relative i term, based on 
the experience of the individual rather than on some definite 
measure of adult achievement. When interest and apprecia¬ 
tion are made the controlling factors, and the worker 
achieves satisfaction in his product, the acquisition of skill 
should develop as a natural consequence. 

Not only is skill a relative term, but it has many applica¬ 
tions. There are mental skills as well as physical ones. In 
shop work, one can distinguish early between hand skills 
and machine skills. The former have to do with muscular 
control, particularly with regard to the fingers, hands, and 
arms in handling tools. Machine skills, while hand con¬ 
trolled, are dependent on power outside the human mecha¬ 
nism. The operation of an automobile is a common ex- 


34968 0 —38-4 


44 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


ample of machine skill, and one finds the need for these 
skills increasing rapidly in school and home workshops as 
well as in community life. The operation of the popular 
power-driven machines which are far from automatic, but 
which enable one to increase his output once their control 
has been mastered, is an example of machine skill. The use 
of such power machines has a definite value in interpreting 
the present industrial civilization to adolescent boys and 
girls. It is, therefore, a responsibility of industrial-arts 
teachers, through assigned study, class discussion, visits to 
industrial plants, shop work, and other desirable forms of 
industrial-arts activities, to develop in their pupils an in¬ 
telligent understanding of the power age in w T hich we live. 
Implications from interpretations placed upon industrial 
arts in this bulletin, if carried to their logical conclusion, 
would result in pupil outcomes for the realization of this 
educational objective. 

THE MEDIA OF INDUSTRIAL ARTS EXPERIENCES 

It would be futile to attempt in a junior high school pro¬ 
gram an exploration of all the many materials which are 
used in industry. It is possible, however, to use as typical, 
a number of the most common materials such as wood, 
metal, paper, paints, lacquers, inks, dyes, stains, and other 
materials that usually accompany their use. 

Too frequently, however, industrial arts experiences have 
included only two or three kinds of wood from the hundreds 
which the world’s markets supply, each with characteristics 
which make it most appropriate for some specific purpose. 
In the metals field, work has been confined largely to bar and 
sheet steel, to the neglect of other common metals such as 
copper, lead, tin, zinc, aluminum, pewter, brass, bronze, 
and other important alloys which have recently been intro¬ 
duced, such as stellite and Monel metal. The effort to pro¬ 
vide enrichment of industrial arts experiences in keeping 
with modern practices must also include other materials, 
such as textiles and plastics, both natural and synthetic. 
The progress which is made in this direction depends on 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 45 


industrial arts professional purposes. To confine one’s 
efforts to a narrow field of materials is out of step with the 
rapidly expanding field of industrial materials in use at the 
present time. 

Furthermore, the media of industrial arts should not be 
confined to materials. Consideration must also be given to 
the tools and machines by which materials are modified, 
and the power by which these machines are operated. Scaled 
and dimensioned drawings provide a language of form and 
dimension so accurate and unchangeable that there can be 
no chance for difference in interpretation. Printing pro¬ 
vides the means for economical preservation and dissemi¬ 
nation of knowledge. Electricity is a force without which 
our modern civilization could not exist. Ceramics is one 
of our largest industries and involves many mechanical proc¬ 
esses. Textiles and foods furnish the base of large indus¬ 
trial organizations. If we accept a broad definition of in¬ 
dustrial arts as a study of industries and industrial prac¬ 
tices then all of the above, and more should be included. 

It seems fair to say that on the junior-high-school level 
industrial arts is largely explorational. In the sense that 
vocational education means preparation for an immediate 
wage-earning occupation, any motive of this nature that is 
present among junior-high-school pupils is apt to be vague 
and transitory. This is especially true in the light of pres¬ 
ent conditions which place the entrance into occupational 
life beyond the junior-high-school age. But interest in 
industrial affairs in general is pronounced in boys and girls 
of junior-high-school age because they are beginning to 
realize their individuality and the importance or desira¬ 
bility of associating themselves with recognized enterprises 
of social significance. They find themselves surrounded by 
great organizations for manufacturing, for processing ma¬ 
terials, for transportation, and for communication; they find 
themselves in a society intent on securing personal comfort 
and convenience in modern homes. Thus the desire for the 
possession of the products of the arts and the industries be¬ 
comes one of the strong motivating forces in their lives. 


46 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


Obviously, all types of industrial work cannot be dupli¬ 
cated in schools, so it has become the practice to select indus¬ 
trial activities in which large numbers of people are em¬ 
ployed, on which they are dependent, in which they are 
interested, or by which they are served. From these activ¬ 
ities teachers of industrial arts have chosen those tools and 
practices which represent great forces at work in industry 
but which may be brought within the range of practical 
experiences for pupils of junior-high-school age in school 
shops and school environment. 

There is a tendency to increase the number of media for 
industrial arts, and some experimental centers have under¬ 
taken to show the value of including a much larger variety. 
The following is to be regarded only as an initial list for a 
constantly expanding program of activities: Woodwork, 
metalwork, printing and other graphic arts, electricity, arts 
and crafts, ceramics, textiles, foods, and planning—includ¬ 
ing drawing, reading, and design. Time, place, and cir¬ 
cumstances all should influence the selection of media and 
activities through which industrial arts is to be presented. 
The constant shifting of our people raises the question of 
overemphasis on local industrial units, but because they are 
of community interest they should be considered, and in 
many cases be made quite prominent in the program. 

COURSES OF STUDY 

The preparation of courses of study for junior high school 
presents various problems which must be met. Even in rel¬ 
atively large schools it would be difficult to have a depart¬ 
ment or to provide a place in the program for even the 
units (media) which have been listed. It becomes neces¬ 
sary, therefore, to make combinations and to bring together 
in each unit those things which can be handled with the 
fewest additional tools. The much-criticized wood shop, 
which usually includes provision for various kinds of finish¬ 
ing with paints, lacquers, and varnishes, can very easily be 
adapted to include ceramics and leather craft. Printing as 
a graphic art may include bookmaking, linoleum cutting, 
photography, and etching. Metalwork may include sheet 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 47 

metal, art metal, bench metal, forging, gas and electric weld¬ 
ing, casting, and machine tool work. Because of the mate¬ 
rials used, electricity may also be associated with metal¬ 
work. Drawing is distinctly a part of planning which 
should include selection of a project, selecting or making of 
a design, reading and making a working drawing, selecting 
materials and estimating costs, and developing a practical 
method of procedure. 

Boys and girls should be interested in textiles, in the selec¬ 
tion of their clothes as well as in their repair and proper 
maintenance. They need also to develop good judgment 
both in the appearance and serviceableness of their apparel. 
The same situation is true with regard to foods. They 
should learn to select proper food and also to prepare it. 
Aside from this consumer approach the mechanics of textile 
design and manufacture and of food processing provide 
interesting examples of industrial development, most of 
which have not received the attention they deserve in our 
educational program. 

The work of the junior high school grades is here assumed 
to be for general education purposes and of a nonspecialized 
character. Industrial arts work organized in accordance 
with these requirements offers an especially desirable means 
for the realization of aims included in objectives for that 
educational level. Consequently, admittance to courses in 
this curriculum area should not be denied on the basis of 
sex. This statement, however, is not meant to imply that 
units of v T ork, and even courses, that more generally accord 
with interests and occupational tendencies of one of the 
sexes than they do with those of the other sex should not 
be provided. For example, industrial arts work built about 
home crafts and industrial products, together with the serv¬ 
ices related to their use, such as textiles, including weaving, 
art needlework, and furniture and other home equipment, 
are more nearly in accord with manifest interests and ac¬ 
tivities of girls and women than with those of boys and men. 
Work of the heavy type in construction materials, such as 
w^ood, iron, steel, and sheet metal more nearly accord with 


48 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


the interests of boys and men than with those of girls and 
women. 

Past classifications of human activities according to sex, 
however, are breaking down. With few exceptions, the 
only real factor that indicates any considerable degree of 
permanency in the perpetuation of such classifications is 
physical ability. Even that, especially with the develop¬ 
ment of labor-saving devices in many occupations, does not 
restrict entrance into occupations according to sex as it for¬ 
merly did. In view of these facts and the assumption that 
industrial arts in the junior high school grades is for gen¬ 
eral education purposes and not for specific training for a 
definite occupation, many of the limitations imposed by 
present practices upon the participation of girls in indus¬ 
trial arts work are without logical foundation. Experience 
shows that many girls do not confine their manipulative 
activities and their interests in the study of industrial prod¬ 
ucts and services to things of the home, but are eager to ex¬ 
press themselves through a variety of material media 
included in industrial arts work. In this connection it is 
also to be pointed out that pupil outcomes derived from 
industrial arts work, though it is offered as a part of the 
general education program, may have for some pupils pro¬ 
paedeutic values for vocational work. It is quite probable 
that girls as well as boys may find in industrial arts courses 
the beginning of a permanent vocational interest and that 
the work will serve as a foundation upon which to build 
future vocational training. 

It is to be understood that what has been said concerning 
industrial arts work for boys and for girls has been only 
from the standpoint of the value and appropriateness of 
such work according to sex, and has not taken into consid¬ 
eration any present administrative problems arising in con¬ 
nection with the programming of classes or with the 
instructional organization of the school. Experience indi¬ 
cates that in cases where a desirable educational end cannot 
be attained on account of a present administrative practice, 
the administrative practice in time will be modified in 
accordance with the educational need, provided it can be 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 49 


shown of sufficient importance to warrant any additional 
cost that may be involved in making the administrative 
change. 

Possible ways for providing industrial arts work to meet 
special needs of each sex and at the same time not deprive a 
pupil of one sex from what may seem desirable instruction 
for him (or her) in an activity that is usually characterized 
as special for the other sex include: (1) Organization of 
some courses in parallel classes, one to include activities that 
in general accord with the interests of one sex, the other to 
include activities that in general accord with the interests 
of the other sex, then permit exchange of pupils, either as a 
class or as individuals, as the local situation may indicate 
as feasible and practicable; (2) organization of some courses 
in which there will be a sufficient number of pupil activities 
and projects to permit some selection in accordance with 
individual differences, including those characterized by sex. 
The comprehensive shop lends itself to such a program. 

Among the industrial arts activities that may be organ¬ 
ized for instruction in accordance with the interests and 
abilities of junior high school pupils, including both girls 
and boys, the ; following may be mentioned: 

Electricity, with special reference to its use in the home. 
Woodwork and wood finishing, with special reference to the 
use and care of wood products in the home. Elementary 
work in clay, including projects in pottery. Construction 
work that involves the use of paints, lacquers, and stains. 
Textiles, including the study of textile products and manip¬ 
ulative work in their construction. Art metal, emphasizing 
the making of articles of simple construction and design. 
Photography, including the taking of pictures of simple 
composition and their development. Printing, including the 
project of a small school paper. 

Recognizing the wide range of materials which may be 
used as media for industrial arts experiences, it is obvious 
that one must either select only a few of them for detailed 
study, or else devote only a little attention to each of a large 
number. The choice between these two plans will depend 
largely on the purposes of the course of study. Since explo- 


50 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


ration is one of the important purposes of the junior high 
school, it seems essential that a wide range of experiences 
be provided. 

PROBLEMS OR ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 

Junior high schools organized with periods approximately 
60 minutes in length often assign pupils to industrial arts 
classes for one period each day or a total of 300 minutes per 
week. Because of the time necessarily required to distribute 
and collect tools and supplies, a period shorter than 60 min¬ 
utes is not considered economical. The shorter the period 
the greater is the percentage of time required for this dis¬ 
tribution and collection. Three double periods of 90 min¬ 
utes each per week are nearly equivalent to the 60 minutes 
per day, and schools with periods of less than 60 minutes 
should use the double period if a program, such as is being 
proposed in this bulletin, is to be made effective. 

Schools employing more than one industrial arts teacher 
and with shops equipped for specific fields of activity such 
as woodwork, metal work, printing, and electricity, must 
decide which of these subjects should be taught first. From 
the point of using larger muscles first, letterpress printing 
with 12-point type, or larger, seems advisable, because it is 
concerned largely with assembling parts which have already 
been made. Electricity also, as usually taught, is largely 
an assembling process but it employs scientific principles and 
terms which are apt to be beyond the comprehension of 
seventh-grade pupils. Most pupils are more or less fa¬ 
miliar with woodwork in the elementary schools, so this is 
often used as a point of departure in the seventh grade. 
Metal work, when employing thin sheets, is often less diffi¬ 
cult, however, than woodwork. 

Confronted with such a situation, it seems impracticable 
to attempt a logical sequence of industrial arts teaching 
units on the basis of the materials involved. As there are 
simple as well as difficult problems attached to all kinds of 
material, the solution seems to lie in selecting projects 
within the range of the pupils’ ability and not on the basis 
of some logical sequence for introducing various materials. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 51 


Some schools rotate classes through four or more fields 
of activity in the seventh grade and permit a choice of sub¬ 
jects in the eighth grade. Other schools offer printing and 
woodwork in the seventh grade and metal work and elec¬ 
tricity in the eighth grade, with election of any one sub¬ 
ject in the ninth grade. Drawing is sometimes offered as a 
unit and in other cases is carried along with the shop work 
as a part of planning or industrial arts design. It would 
be difficult to prove that one method is better than another, 
so it seems more important to emphasize outcomes in terms 
of knowledge, skills, appreciations, and attitudes, rather 
than in terms of the sequence of teaching units based on 
materials. 

FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT 

Reference has been made to unit shops and general shops. 
It has long been the practice to define unit shops as those 
which are equipped for teaching in a single field such as 
woodwork, metal work, forging, foundry, or printing. This 
type of shop is still most popular in large high schools. On 
the other hand, the general shop is equipped for a large 
variety of work to be carried on simultaneously under the 
direction of one teacher. In various localities school shops 
range all the way from one extreme to the other. Admin¬ 
istrators are insisting that woodwork alone no longer meets 
the requirements of an industrial arts program, even in 
small schools. Therefore, the only solution for the small 
school seems to be in the development of a comprehensive 
general shop. When two or three teachers are employed in 
a school the multiple activities of the comprehensive general 
shop may be divided into groups to avoid duplication of 
equipment. When this plan is followed these shops become 
in a sense general shops for the particular division of work 
they represent, and are known as general woodwork shops, 
general metal work shops, and the like. Even in very large 
schools the general shop is sometimes used to provide intro¬ 
ductory industrial arts experiences before pupils go to unit 
shops. Because school shops are used as centers for ex¬ 
ploration and experimentation the term “laboratory” is com- 


52 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


ing into favor with some people. More important, however, 
than the name is that these shops or laboratories be ade¬ 
quately equipped with work stations, hand tools, power 
machines, and necessary materials to suit the activities for 
which they are expected to provide. They should also serve 
as a source of information, such as found in samples, refer¬ 
ence books, catalogs, and other types of illustrative mate¬ 
rials. The work should be under the direction of broadly 
educated, professionally trained, skilled, and versatile 
teachers. 

Not many years ago when the woodworking shop was 
almost the only kind of school shop known, it was cus¬ 
tomary to provide each worker with a full set of wood¬ 
worker’s tools. In time it was realized that many of these 
tools were used only occasionally, consequently, it became a 
practice to provide for each work station only those tools 
which are most essential. In accordance with this practice 
it is necessary to provide a limited number of each of a 
wide range of tools to be used in common by all pupils in 
the class. In the general shop only a few tools of any one 
kind are needed, because with the variety of work under 
way, only a few pupils will be employed in any one division 
or on any one process. 

Until very recently it was necessary to employ large ma¬ 
chines, such as are used in industrial plants, in order to 
provide important experiences. In this connection it must 
be remembered that tools and machines in schools are more 
abused in their use than they are in industrial shops, be¬ 
cause in school they are used by inexperienced workers. In 
the past few years there has been an unusually fine develop¬ 
ment of small sturdy machines which will stand up under 
school use. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to use large 
machines in order to secure rigidity and durability. The 
precise use which is to be made of machines should be the 
deciding factor as to size. For large, heavy work, large 
machines are essential, but for most projects undertaken by 
pupils in junior high school small, sturdily built machines 
will suffice, 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 53 

Because of its complexity, the planning of a school shop 
requires very careful study. There are many details which 
must receive attention. For example, there is the matter 
of storage. There must be a place for materials which are 
often bulky, but which need to be readily accessible at all 
times. A place for the storage of unfinished work of pupils 
is also very essential. Each tool should have its proper 
place, and w T hen not in use should always be there. This 
implies organization and responsibility which should add 
materially to the educational experiences of a school shop 
by increasing the responsibilities of the pupils working 
in it. 

There are many ways of caring for tools and supplies. 
Some teachers prefer tool rooms or tool cribs, some prefer 
small wall cabinets, while others prefer to keep tools in 
bench drawers. It would be difficult to say that one method 
is better than another, but it is important in each case that, 
a definite plan be developed, and that pupils be required to 
follow the plan without variation or exception. This is a 
type of formal experience which helps to develop individual 
responsibility as well as social cooperation. 

In each school shop there should be open floor space pro¬ 
vided for the assembling of large projects. Aisles should 
be wide enough to permit free movement about the shop 
without interfering with other workers, and there should 
be some arrangement for comfortably seating all pupils dur¬ 
ing a class discussion or demonstration. When pupils are 
called together without satisfactory arrangements for their 
comfort, they soon become inattentive, especially when they 
cannot see the teacher and his demonstration. 

When the sessions for recitation or demonstration are 
short, pupils may sit on benches without becoming fatigued. 
A more satisfactory method, however, is to provide movable 
stools or to attach a swinging or revolving seat to each 
bench, or to provide chairs or benches in a space set aside 
for conferences. The latter arrangement is quite common, 
but seems extravagant in the use of space, considering the 
small amount of time the seats are in use. In shops where 


54 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


large benches are desirable, a combination arrangement has 
been devised by attaching swinging seats to the frames along 
both sides of the benches. These benches serve well for 
class discussion purposes, and at other times provide work 
stations for various kinds of activities. Certain types of 
equipment may also be mounted on these benches without 
interfering with their other uses. 

Lighting in school shops should be adequate, with 12 to 
15-foot candles considered as a minimum. Temperature in 
the shops may be somewhat lower than in classrooms, be¬ 
cause the pupils are usually moving about, but ventilation 
should be equal to that provided in any other part of the 
school building. Dampness should be avoided, not only for 
the well-being of the teacher and pupils, but also to avoid 
rusting of tools and deterioration of stock. The objection 
to the use of basement rooms is due to the fact that these 
desirable conditions frequently do not prevail. There should 
be no objection to basement rooms when these important 
features are properly provided. 

The matter of providing safety devices is an important 
element in school-shop planning. All power-driven ma¬ 
chines should be provided with approved guards. Contrary 
to quite common opinion, guards are available which seldom 
interfere with the operation of machines. In the infrequent 
situations where standard guards cannot be used, special 
guarding devices can be improvised. Guards do, in some 
cases, slow down production, but safety should be of more 
importance than speed in school shops. 

In these days of enlarged classes, careful consideration 
must be given to what may be called work stations. This 
term should include not only places to work with tools, but 
also opportunities to participate in the shop management. 
Fifteen pupils are too many in a shop that has only 10 work 
stations, while 40 pupils may not be too many in a shop 
with an adequate number of work stations and where in¬ 
structional practices are efficiently organized. All too fre¬ 
quently the necessity of the latter condition has been over¬ 
looked, with the result that pupils have lost interest, dan- 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 55 


gerous situations have developed, and teachers have become 
discouraged. 

Detailed lists of tools, machines, and supplies cannot be 
given here because of their great variety. Many studies 
have been made to learn just what kind and amount of equip¬ 
ment should be provided, but until local standards have been 
established, it is better to underestimate the needs and grad¬ 
ually build up the equipment on the basis of experience. 
There is little that is more disconcerting to administrators 
than expensive equipment which is not frequently and pur¬ 
posefully used. 

TEACHING AIDS 

Books have a peculiar significance in industrial-arts shops. 
They are seldom used as texts, but as a source of informa¬ 
tion their use as reference material is increasing. Several 
things may account for this situation. Not so long ago the 
teacher carried all of the essential knowledge in his own 
mind and passed it on to his pupils by lectures and actual 
demonstrations with tools and materials. Imitation is still 
one good way of learning, but with the accumulation of 
good books, and the recognition given to the interests of 
individual pupils, school programs are growing in breadth. 
The time has now arrived when a library of good books is 
an essential part of the equipment of every progressive in¬ 
dustrial-arts shop, and evidence of their frequent use is an 
indication of one factor in good teaching. To the extent 
that books are used to stimulate self-activity on the part 
of the pupils, they become teaching aids. Magazines which 
deal with scientific and shop problems should also be classi¬ 
fied under the same head. There are other teaching aids, 
such as instruction sheets, designed for use in school shops. 
These instruction sheets may be subdivided into assignment 
sheets in which the specific requirements of a project are 
made clear, operation sheets which provide definite instruc¬ 
tions for tool processes which pupils should not be expected 
to discover nor to learn by trial-and-error experiences, and 
related information sheets, which serve to provide the “why” 
of an activity as well as information about the materials 
used. They are quite valuable, particularly in large classes, 


56 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


and their value is measurable by the extent to which they 
stimulate pupils to do their own thinking and planning. 
Other important teaching aids are bulletin boards, pupils’ 
notebooks, reports by pupils to the class, films and slides, 
models, charts, photographs, catalogs of tools, equipment, 
and materials, files of industrial information, illustrative 
materials, permanent and temporary exhibits, school and 
other libraries, museums, and visits to factories or other 
industrial establishments. 

THE CONTRIBUTION OF INDUSTRIAL ARTS 

Social adjustment .—Perhaps the greatest development in 
the field of industrial arts in recent years is the recognition 
of its social contribution. Many educators look upon indus¬ 
trial arts in its broader concept as a great integrating force 
in the development of a new educational program to meet 
changing social and economic needs. For pupils in their 
early adolescent years, industrial arts has an almost univer¬ 
sal appeal. There is something about working with tools 
and materials that holds boys’ and girls’ interests although 
these same persons may have quite diverse purposes back of 
their activities. These purposes may range all the way from 
recreation to serious problems of research, but the genuine 
interests on which they are based provide a foundation for 
the development of character and social adjustment. 

The measure of pupil achievement .—The recognition of 
new values should not cause the old ones to be displaced. 
There is rather a change in emphasis. We should still keep 
records to discover what pupils and teachers have achieved, 
the former in terms of learning of various kinds, the latter 
in terms of areas or units which have been presented and 
made a part of the pupils worth-while experiences. Too 
often, however, achievement has been measured solely by the 
products of tool manipulation. Important as these are they 
are not sufficient. As a result of their industrial arts ex¬ 
periences, pupils should show evidence of growth not only 
in the matter of tool skills, but also in their understanding 
of and the reasons for the things which they have done. 
They should have developed a wholesome attitude toward 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 57 


their fellow workers in situations which, by their very na¬ 
ture, require consideration for others as well as cooperation 
with them. The outcome of industrial arts experiences 
should be of at least three kinds: First, skill in the use of 
tools, the development of good methods of procedure, and 
in the selection of appropriate designs and types of construc¬ 
tion ; second, information concerning the qualities and char¬ 
acteristics of materials, their source, their abundance or 
scarcity, their relative values, and their past and present con¬ 
tribution to industrial and social activities; and, third, 
social habits and attitudes which help one to be successful in 
his relations with his associates. The third group includes 
a reasonable willingness to cooperate with others and to have 
consideration for their convenience and welfare, a reasonable 
willingness to assume responsibility, and a reasonable reli¬ 
ance on one’s own ability. When properly organized and 
properly presented these industrial arts experiences pro¬ 
vide excellent opportunities for exploration and guidance. 

In contrast to the old idea of manual training with em¬ 
phasis almost entirely on tool skills, the present-day concept 
of industrial arts includes a broad program for the develop¬ 
ment of various skills, informations, and attitudes. This 
means that interests should not be centered so exclusively in 
the material products as to crowd out those more subjective 
but highly desirable values of related information, of co¬ 
operation, and of responsibility. One must realize, how¬ 
ever, that in setting up such objectives as these there may 
be some appearance of duplicating the work of the physical 
sciences, the social studies, and economics. It is desirable to 
bring about a more complete integration that leads the 
pupils to understand that everything they do in the shop 
is based on some physical science. At the same time pupils 
in other departments of the school should learn that the 
school shops are laboratories where they may put into prac¬ 
tice the principles and informations acquired in the classes in 
other subjects. If the work in each of the subject-matter 
departments is organized and carried out so that it sup¬ 
plements to the fullest extent the work of all other depart¬ 
ments in their efforts to realize the educational objectives of 


58 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


the school, the greater will be the opportunities for the 
pupil to unify his efforts for a general education. 

Pupil persormel—training in self-government .—Due in 
part to the enlargement of shop classes, the participation of 
pupils in shop management has been given much attention in 
recent years, and the term “pupil personnel organization” 
has come into use. Discerning teachers see in the experi¬ 
ences attached to such an organization an opportunity to 
emphasize the value of leadership and cooperation. One 
may read much about pupil foremen and assistants who take 
care of the distribution, collection, and care of tools, the 
maintenance and operation of machines, the conservation of 
supplies, the records of attendance and achievement, and 
constant checking and observation to promote safety. The 
development of such an organization differs from the usual 
concept of a class—in fact, it becomes a community in which 
individual responsibility and social interdependence are 
both essential factors. 

A class organization which involves pupils in its manage¬ 
ment brings to the teacher of industrial arts a new responsi¬ 
bility. Instead of dictating each step in the class pro¬ 
cedure, a practice which is quite common in industry, he 
becomes an adviser, a consultant, and a source of informa¬ 
tion. He is required to study his problem with the definite 
purpose of becoming an efficient classroom administrator, 
having as his goal, optimum learning experiences for each 
pupil. Classes organized on this plan are no longer rare. 
They are being organized because they provide an oppor¬ 
tunity to practice more completely that which we have long 
proclaimed; namely, “we learn to do by doing.” Teachers 
who are conducting classes of this type have accepted the 
idea that industrial arts as a subject includes much more 
than tool and machine skills. 

Safety education .—Safety in the industrial arts shop 
means more than machine guards. Important as these de¬ 
vices are, their use should be merely a part of the whole 
school program for the avoidance of accidents of all kinds. 
Efforts to avoid accidents in school shops may well be a 
part of the pupil personnel operation. Accidents usually 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 59 

occur because of carelessness on the part of someone. Defi¬ 
nitely established habits of alertness, together with a clear 
understanding of the chances for accidents when the proper 
procedure is not followed, tend to lessen accidents. But 
safety is not confined to the proper use of tools and ma¬ 
chines. All the factors which are used to assure the phy¬ 
sical ’well-being of pupils apply in the shop as well as in 
other parts of the school building. The teacher who has 
developed an efficient pupil personnel organization in his 
shop will not fail to include safety education as one of its 
important phases. 

Equality .—Regardless of their future vocations or pro¬ 
fessions, pupils when they work in the school shops meet 
on common ground. Here they may create material things 
in accordance with their individual ideas and interests, and 
in doing so reveal their own interpretation and understand¬ 
ing of modern industrial civilization. Here they may ex¬ 
plore and experiment; here they may bring their mathe¬ 
matics, science, language, and even history and put them 
to work; here tangible material results give evidence of 
technical knowledge and skill. Here is an opportunity to 
bring skill, knowledge, and attitudes together in the de¬ 
velopment of character. 

Aesthetic appreciation .—There is still another value which 
should not be overlooked. One writer expressed it when 
he wrote, “As the sun colors flowers, so art beautifies life.” 
It is not enough that material things shall function. There 
is a growing demand that they shall appeal also to a sense 
of beauty, and when a thing functions well in all respects, 
it is unavoidably beautiful. Therefore, pleasing form and 
color, which includes both design and decoration, should 
be studied to develop appreciation for the finer manufac¬ 
tured things of daily use. 

Art form as well as the materials used in construction 
determines in large measure the quality of an industrial 
product. Many of the materials used in industrial arts have 
an intrinsic beauty of color or texture of their own, and 
to many others beauty may be contributed through the proc¬ 
ess of manufacture. The workability of industrial mate- 
34968 0 — 38-5 


60 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


ials is conditioned by their hardness, malleability or ductil¬ 
ity, or by other characteristics. The durability of a material 
used is also to be taken into consideration. Thus, the art 
form of an industrial arts product will depend largely on 
its degree of fitness to meet the purpose for which it was 
intended, the beauty of its construction which includes pro¬ 
portions and workmanship, as well as finish, and finally, its 
decorative value, to be considered in relation to its intended 
surroundings. Design, which is the controlling factor in all 
the arts, must be made to permeate the entire industrial arts 
program. 


CHAPTER IV: IN THE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL 


THE SCOPE 

Senior high schools and vocational schools provide a 
period of advancement toward a chosen goal. Industrial 
arts as a part of general education contributes to this end by: 
{a) developing an appreciation of design and quality in 
manufactured products; (b) providing practice in the use 
of materials and tools for recreation and home utilization; 
( c ) sampling a variety of industries, through advanced 
school courses, in preparation for entrance as a beginner 
into the skilled trades or into college courses in engineering 
and architecture. Industrial or trade education as specific 
training prepares for entrance into the skilled trades with 
advanced apprentice standing, and provides, with other sub¬ 
jects of the curriculum, a background for later promotion 
to minor executive positions in industry. 

A shifting emphasis .—As has been previously stated in 
this bulletin the basic or fundamental objectives of indus¬ 
trial arts obtain for all educational levels. There is, how¬ 
ever, a continually changing emphasis to meet the shifting 
interests of boys and girls as they approach adolescence and 
continue toward adulthood or maturity. Many educators 
believe that senior high school shop work should emphasize, 
or at least include opportunities for realizing, industrial 
vocational values. 

The value of industrial arts as a contribution to the gen¬ 
eral education of all children is being more generally recog¬ 
nized, and in line with this attitude there is an increasing 
tendency to provide industrial arts experiences for girls. 
The exploratory interests of the junior high school pupil 
are motivated by curiosity about things, how they work, how 
they are made, and what purposes they can be made to serve. 
These interests, which were discussed in the chapter on 
junior high schools, begin to crystallize into desires that are 
more definitely vocational as the pupil advances to higher 
educational levels. Consequently, we find him evaluating 

61 



62 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


each school subject according to the use it appears to have 
in a very practical world. He has been encouraged in this 
by the emphasis that parents and teachers have placed upon 
a “life work” or a vocation. Therefore, the industrial arts 
shop in the senior high school must answer satisfactorily 
questions as to practical values related to occupational life 
if it is to hold the interest of the high-school pupil. By this 
time some pupils will have chosen to enroll in trade schools 
with the single purpose of preparing for a wage-earning job. 
Many others, however, will prefer to continue with a more 
general program of high-school subjects, including shop 
work, and to defer for at least 2 years, the specialized train¬ 
ing which is essential for entrance into certain highly skilled 
occupations. 

Among the industrial arts activities which may be 
included in the more general program mentioned above, 
some will be a continuation, on a more advanced level, of 
those found in the junior high school. Others will repre¬ 
sent new activities or activities involving more complex 
projects than could be offered in the junior high school 
because of the more mature interests and abilities which 
they demand. Printing, including the making of sketches 
for advertising displays is a subject of value for both boys 
and girls. Photography, including composition, color and 
form, enlarging and developing, is an excellent activity to 
engage the interest of both boys and girls. Art metal work, 
including metal spinning and the making of simple forms 
and designs in jewelry, accords well with the interests of 
boys and girls of the senior high school level. Textiles, 
as applied to articles about the home and clothing are im¬ 
portant from the standpoint of the consumer. Furniture, 
including activities for the study of design, materials, and 
use, especially in reference to the selection and purchase 
of articles for the home is a subject of large concern in the 
life of the individual. When properly taught, industrial 
arts studies of textiles and furniture will make for the 
improvement in taste, personal dress, home decorations, and 
the selection of home equipment. Ceramics, including proj- 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 63 


ects which emphasize proportion and design should be 
included for the making and decorating of articles used in 
the home. The values to be derived from such a course are 
of equal worth to both boys and girls. For pupils in the 
senior high school a course in house planning is highly desir¬ 
able for girls, and also for boys if they have not had courses 
in drafting that would include this objective. The purpose 
of the course would be to develop abilities and skills neces¬ 
sary for intelligently planning the construction of a house 
in accordance with good architectural requirements, good 
arrangement for the purposes it is to serve, good construc¬ 
tion, and economy in costs. Within the limitations set by 
the purpose of instruction, the course would include ( a ) 
instruction in the reading of house plans to a degree of 
proficiency that would enable the individual to understand 
house plans found in non-professional literature; ( b ) 
instruction in making sketches of house plans which would be 
useful in conveying to an architect clear conceptions upon 
which he would base his drawings; (<?) instruction in kinds 
and uses of building materials; and (d) instruction in esti¬ 
mating costs. 

For principles governing the selection of activities in 
industrial arts for boys and for girls, the reader is referred 
to statements made in connection with the junior high school 
program. 

The question is sometimes raised as to the relationship 
between industrial arts and other school subjects, especially 
the social science subjects. It seems plausible to believe 
that every subject and every department in our American 
system of departmentalized schools contributes generously 
to the cardinal objectives of education. However, each de¬ 
partment has its own specific contribution to make to the 
program of the school, and school administrators view the 
function of each department in the light of the specific and 
peculiar contribution that it makes toward the realization 
of the general objectives of the school. Such a situation 
makes possible desirable correlation between subjects in the 
school curriculum but the independence of each subject- 
matter field is not thereby invalidated. 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


64 

The emergence of industrial arts .—Industrial arts has 
emerged as an important part in secondary school pro¬ 
grams. It is no longer considered a subject in the same 
sense as is arithmetic or woodwork, but is being recognized 
as dealing with a whole area comparable with that covered 
by such designations as the “social studies”, “the exact sci¬ 
ences”, “language education”, or “health education.” The 
phrase “social studies” carries implications far more sig¬ 
nificant than does the enumeration of such subjects as his¬ 
tory, civics, and economics. Likewise, industrial arts has 
come to mean a broad program—the organization of eco¬ 
nomic, social, scientific, materialistic, and idealistic knowl¬ 
edge, as such is related to the lives of people in an industrial 
age. It is concerned with material media—materials of in¬ 
struction, tools, and processes—that are significant in de¬ 
veloping the values which industry contributes to life. Not 
until this large concept gained quite general acceptance did 
industrial arts make for itself a secure place in the American 
high-school family of accepted studies. 

For teaching purposes and to facilitate school organiza¬ 
tion, industrial arts is broken down into units or subjects 
such as woodwork, machine shop practice, printing, draw¬ 
ing, and electrical work. Following much the same line of 
reasoning that has produced courses in general language, 
general science, and general courses in the social studies, 
there has also come into use the general or diversified activ¬ 
ity shop, with its great variety of industrial arts experiences. 

Whatever the form of shop organization found in the 
senior high school, whether a general shop course or a series 
of unit shop courses, industrial arts represents a whole field 
or area in our educational plan. This concept is essential if 
industrial arts is to be developed to achieve its full purpose 
as an integral part of the high-school curriculum. 

General acceptance of industrial arts .—Industrial arts is 
accepted as an integral part of any well-rounded high-school 
program. According to many studies, including the recent 
National Survey of Secondary Education, the non-academic 
high-school subjects, among which industrial arts is promi¬ 
nent, have shown decided gains over academic subjects dur¬ 
ing the last 30 years. However, in an effort to maintain or 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 65 


restore the former prestige of traditional subjects, certain 
programs are being arranged and certain requirements are 
being made that, for the time being, seem to work to the 
disadvantage of the nonacademic subjects. For example, 
there are instances where civics is a required high-school 
subject by legislative enactment; economics is required by 
the local school board; by practice of long standing, 4 years 
of English, 2 years of mathematics, 2 years of history, are 
still often required. These specific requirements have been 
added, one here and one there, until time is lacking in the 
high-school program for a student to take the nonacademic 
subjects. The concept of vocational education has also been 
equally narrow in some places, and this has tended, as in 
the case of the academic overemphasis, to eliminate the op¬ 
portunity of enjoying and profiting by industrial arts 
experiences. 

Another factor affecting the standing of industrial arts 
in the high-school program is the practice of administra¬ 
tors in assigning the socially ill-adapted to the school shop. 
There is evidence that the industrial arts program is adapted 
to the needs of many of these maladjusted boys- However, 
there is danger that the presence of too many of the mal¬ 
adjusted pupils in the shop may create a bad impression 
among the more discerning and brighter pupils. After all, 
pupils will profit from contact with a good industrial arts 
program according to their ability to learn and to work 
with a group; therefore, the greatest value will go to the 
socially normal pupils. The real solution of this problem 
probably will not be found in a direct attack on any of 
these too common practices, but rather in a more careful 
study of potentialities of individuals as well as their in¬ 
terests, and in the selection of those experiences which will 
contribute most to the development of the possibilities in 
each individual. Some will profit most by academic ex¬ 
periences, others by the acquisition of tool skills, but the 
great majority will probably be served best by a generous 
sampling of all fields, a situation which demands a much 
greater integration of subject matter than we have had in 
the past. 

As evidence of a more liberal attitude toward high-school 
programs we would direct attention to the recent action of 


66 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


certain colleges in which additional recognition is granted 
to nonacademic subjects for college entrance. Of still 
greater significance is the experiment being carried on in 
various high schools whereby many colleges have agreed to 
accept graduates on the recommendations of principals 
without reference to the subjects taken in high school. 
There is evidence that academic standards still prevail in 
most of these experiments, but there is a principle involved 
which presages a great future for industrial arts. How¬ 
ever, in order to take advantage of this situation industrial 
arts must broaden its program far beyond the mere 
acquisition of tool skills. When carefully analyzed and 
properly presented, we shall find that industrial arts pro¬ 
vides application for the exact social sciences; a recognition 
of this fact will hasten the integration to which reference 
has already been made. Many high-school principals are 
accepting industrial arts as a major factor in this broader 
concept of secondary education. 

THE VALUES 

In agreement with accepted objectives .—The objectives of 
industrial arts education are identical with the accepted 
objectives of any good high-school program. If properly 
administered the industrial arts program will contribute its 
full share to the education of the whole child. The subject 
matter, the teaching methods, the activities in which pupils 
engage, provide some of the finest situations for developing 
ethical character, creating a sense of good citizenship, pro¬ 
moting thrift, developing a keen appreciation of fine things 
produced by good craftsmen, and for building a clear under¬ 
standing of the problems which confront those who do the 
manual work of the world. 

These values need emphasizing during the adolescent 
high-school period. As shop work holds the interest of 
high-school pupils, it is able to contribute much toward 
these educational objectives. Many cases can be presented 
to prove that industrial arts has saved boys to a full high- 
school course, and in some cases also to higher educational 
levels. One should not list as the chief objective the “saving 
of misdirected boys”, nevertheless, this outcome is altogether 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 67 


too important and too frequent to omit it from the objec¬ 
tives of industrial arts on the senior high school level. As 
stated previously in this bulletin, the values of industrial 
arts obtain throughout all levels, that is, elementary, junior 
high school, senior high school, and adult school, but this 
particular value, that of redirecting the interests of boys, 
becomes of outstanding importance when one realizes that 
school attendance in the senior high school is dependent 
generally upon interest and not upon compulsory school 
attendance laws. 

The specific aims and values for industrial arts will be 
treated in relation to the subject matter and general prob¬ 
lems in organizing the program. Let it suffice here to say 
that the important aim is to teach the use of tools, machines, 
materials, and processes as they affect man in his effort to 
make a more satisfactory place in which to live. 

General or nonvocational versus the vocational. —Indus¬ 
trial arts was introduced into the public-school curriculum 
to make education more practical. This idea was based on 
the supposition that work with tools and materials is al¬ 
ways practical while study through the media of books may 
not be so easily applied to everyday situations. Of course 
this is not necessarily true for either supposition. It would 
seem appropriate to emphasize that either manual educa¬ 
tion or academic education is practical when it fills a need 
in an individual’s life. Social education, economic educa¬ 
tion, health education, or music education are all practical 
when they contribute to an individual’s usefulness. It is 
unfortunate that industrial arts education has been pro¬ 
moted with the argument that it is a practical subject and 
thereby inferring that some other subjects are not so practi¬ 
cal. Industrial arts education is able to stand on its con¬ 
tribution to the education of the whole child, not on a com¬ 
parative rating as to whether it is more or less practical 
than some other subjects. It is quite necessary that this 
more cooperative concept shall be the basic philosophy for 
formulating the high-school program of industrial arts if 
it is to be accepted by all persons who are concerned in de¬ 
veloping a good general educational program. 

The concept of what constitutes a practical school subject 
will affect the concept of what constitutes vocational educa- 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


68 

tion. It would be difficult to conceive of any program of 
secondary education which did not attempt to give voca¬ 
tional direction to the pupils who are to come under its in¬ 
fluence. Spelling, writing, arithmetic, and bookkeeping 
could be considered as most definitely vocational if and 
when they are used to prepare a high-school pupil for a job 
as a bookkeeper. Nevertheless, one seldom thinks of spell¬ 
ing, writing, and arithmetic as vocational subjects unless 
they are definitely listed in a training program as prepara¬ 
tory to specific employment. It is just so with all the sub¬ 
jects that comprise the whole field of industrial arts. As a 
part of the general education program of any high school 
many industrial arts subjects may lead into definite voca¬ 
tional study. 

Society and industry have undergone great changes. In¬ 
dustry is making new and more exacting demands on those 
who enter its ranks. In many cases general industrial intel¬ 
ligence is a greater asset than highly developed specializa¬ 
tion. This new situation gives a new significance to indus¬ 
trial arts which, because of its diversified program of shop 
work, fortified by other high-school subjects meets so fre¬ 
quently the demands of modern industry. 

ADMINISTRATION AND ORGANIZATION 

Administrative responsibilities .—It has become a com¬ 
mon practice for the general school administrator having 
responsibility for a program of industrial arts to enlist the 
services of a qualified person in that field. In some situa¬ 
tions it has worked very well to bring someone into the ad¬ 
ministrative offices in a supervisory capacity. In the larger 
school systems the whole program of practical arts educa¬ 
tion is often placed in the hands of an administrative direc¬ 
tor or assistant superintendent. The school administrator 
in the smaller schools will often rely on the advice of one 
of the teachers of industrial arts. The vital thing, however, 
is not the way in which the responsibilities are met, but that 
they be recognized and handled as problems requiring the 
best thought available. 

The administrative responsibilities which are here enu¬ 
merated are problems which confront the administrator on 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 69 

any level, but the problems involve more money, and the de¬ 
cisions become more complicated on the high-school level; it 
has seemed expedient, therefore, to discuss certain of these 
responsibilities. 

1. Relation to the whole program: Industrial arts must be 
planned as an integral part of any well-rounded high-school 
program and be treated as a regular subject. Such treat¬ 
ment is the first step in establishing industrial arts in its 
proper place in the school. Industrial arts should be as 
much a part of the program of studies as is English and 
mathematics. The teachers of industrial arts should meet 
standards equal to those of other teachers. After all, inte¬ 
gration of industrial arts is an attitude of mind on the part 
of administrators, and reflected by both teachers and stu¬ 
dents, which recognizes it as an area in education equal in 
significance to any other. 

2. Specialization: There are many features of an indus¬ 
trial arts program which indicate that it is a field of spe¬ 
cialization. Special equipments are required, and special 
rooms are necessary as to size and arrangement. 

3. Qualifications: The high-school teacher of industrial 
arts must be a versatile individual, equipped not only with 
a liberal general education but also with pronounced com¬ 
petency in at least one craft trade and the technical infor¬ 
mation related to it. 

4. Size of classes: The size of class which can be accom¬ 
modated is dependent upon so many factors that no general 
statements can be made. One point of primary importance 
is that the size of the class should be limited to the number 
of work stations which are provided. The number of work 
stations may be determined by the size of the room. 

5. Courses of study: The fact that industrial art draws 
its materials of learning from the varied craft trades and 
industrial activities of life makes the selection of learning 
units one of the most perplexing problems. The early con¬ 
cept of manual training led the educators to emphasize the 
use of wood in relation to the tools and processes of wood¬ 
work. The present concept of industrial arts includes not 
only wood but metal and clay and fibers—in fact any ma¬ 
terial that man has used to affect his living conditions. In 
some situations the courses of study have been developed 


70 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


in very specialized subjects, such as pattern making, wood 
turning, machine-shop practice, welding, or forge work. 
The inability to provide shops for so many specialized 
courses has encouraged the development of general shops 
in which various specialized activities are combined into 
more general courses covering a great variety of activities. 

6. The planning of shop lay-outs: The installing of the 
necessary equipment in a shop or laboratory for teaching 
industrial arts requires an unusual amount of planning. 
While the purpose of shop work is educational, the effective¬ 
ness of instruction depends largely on the practical quali¬ 
ties of the equipment and the manner in which it is arranged 
and operated. 

7. Supplies and equipment: The supplies and equipment 
used in the teaching of industrial arts are the important 
factors of differentiating the work from other school ac¬ 
tivities. With the possible exception of high-school science, 
the quantity of supplies consumed is greater than those in 
any of the other subjects. The capital cost outlay for 
equipment for courses in metal work on the high-school level 
requires expensive machines. The hand tools require very 
careful selection as each tool, though usually designed for 
a mechanic in a specialized trade, must serve a multitude 
of functions in the school shop. Schools have been unable 
to buy school equipment for shop work on the same speci¬ 
fications as industry. The making of tool and supply lists, 
together with proper buying specifications, becomes one of 
the important responsibilities of administering an indus¬ 
trial-arts program. 

Administering the program .—The problem of administer¬ 
ing a program of industrial arts is, after all, a problem of 
getting all concerned to work together. As previously ex¬ 
plained, integration of the program into the fabric of the 
whole educational plan is the ideal to which every indus¬ 
trial arts teacher or supervisor aspires. It is equally neces¬ 
sary, however, that the school principal and other adminis¬ 
trative officers upon whom the responsibility of carrying 
out the program may fall shall recognize the need of highly 
specialized talent. 

The organization of the work .—In industrial arts, the 
same as in other fields of study, the content material must 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 71 

be selected and arranged in accordance with the mental 
processes involved in the different kinds of learning in¬ 
cluded. In much the same way as the courses in other 
social studies are organized by selecting units representing 
some of the multitude of organized social relationships as 
found in geography, history, economics, civics, and sociology, 
industrial-arts courses should be organized by selecting from 
countless industrial processes used in manufacturing and 
from numbers of highly organized trades in which skilled 
workers have participated for ages, those units which will 
best show accord with the social needs. These processes 
and trades present themselves in a most confusing and 
multitudinous array to the curriculum maker. The prob¬ 
lem of selecting, eliminating, and finally of organizing the 
content material for industrial arts should, therefore, be 
frankly recognized as a difficult one and careful attention 
be given to it by persons trained in a knowledge of indus¬ 
trial life and in sound educational principles. 

Organization of subject matter based on industrial trades 
has been the general practice for work on the high-school 
level. This has resulted in unit courses in machine shop, 
pattern making, forging, foundry, etc. The general or 
diversified shop idea has been gaining acceptance in many 
situations and this has modified the unit shop organization 
to the extent that groups of closely related activities or 
trades have been developed in general metal, general wood, 
general electricity, and other groupings. About the only 
difference between the unit shop and a general shop is that in 
the latter there are no actual partitions separating the shop 
into separate rooms for each unit of work. A close examina¬ 
tion of the organization of the subject matter for each type 
of shop will disclose that the unit trade is usually the basis 
of organization. In other words there may be in a single 
shop, areas set aside for pattern making, forging, machine 
shop, and other units of equipment. 

In certain educational centers where extensive research 
has been done in the field of industrial arts organization 
the “laboratory of industries” has been promoted. Here 
one will find a new philosophy of industrial education. The 
units are no longer trade units but are selected from broad 
areas of human endeavor in the whole field of industrial 


72 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


work. Here the approach is made by introducing the pupil 
to the graphic arts, the metal industries, the materials of 
industry, and other similar designations intended to con¬ 
vey the broader and less-restricted motion of industrial 
activities. 

INSTRUCTION 

Characteristics inherent in good teaching in industrial 
arts .—Teaching methods have been affected by the improved 
physical equipment, by the contributions of highly profes¬ 
sional teachers, and by the general increase in class size. 
These three factors are more conspicuous in their effect on 
the high-school level than on any other. 

There has been a willingness on the part of school author¬ 
ities to install rather elaborate equipment in their high 
schools; there is evidence that too much money has been 
spent for machine-tool equipment that is not vital for 
instructional purposes in some instances, but the more lib¬ 
eral expenditure of money has resulted generally in having 
some very superior teaching tools and materials. The con¬ 
clusion that school shops do not need to parallel industrial 
situations has simplified the teacher’s problems because he 
now feels free to recommend school shop equipment based 
strictly on school shop needs. This alone has had a far- 
reaching effect on teaching methods and techniques. 

The industrial arts teacher needs to be not only a highly 
trained professional person but also a good mechanic, an 
artisan, and a craftsman. In addition to the craft sldlls 
he must bring to the high-school organization the same col¬ 
lege training and the same breadth of view in regard to 
the social, economic, and political conditions (welfare) of 
the community as his more academically trained associates 
on the high-school staff. The social viewpoint is so signifi¬ 
cant in the industrial arts teacher that his attitude toward 
pupils is commonly much more human and more under¬ 
standing than those who deal with less concrete situations. 
He is much beloved by his pupils because of these quali¬ 
ties. 

It is a combination of these human qualities, professional 
preparation for teaching, and resultant understanding of 
social and economic needs, that has stimulated some very 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 73 

superior teaching methods by industrial arts teachers. In 
fact most of the methods and techniques commonly referred 
to as “progressive methods” in our current literature are 
accepted and practiced by the industrial arts teacher. The 
very roots for such concepts as “individual needs,” “indi¬ 
vidualized instruction,” “socialized recitation,” have their 
beginnings in the activity program as provided in the indus¬ 
trial arts shop. These statements are not intended to place 
undue credit on the teachers of industrial arts for their 
excellent contribution to the whole field of education but 
rather to show that the subject itself stimulates just that 
kind of a contribution. 

It is only fair to acknowledge that some of the great values 
that are now seen in the manner in which shop classes are 
conducted have been forced upon the industrial arts teacher. 
For example, the pupil personnel system of organizing a 
shop class so that it becomes largely a self-governing unit 
was necessary as a device for handling large classes. This 
particular system has been explained in the treatment of 
the junior high school. In the senior high school it brings 
out leadership and suggests some approach to foremanship 
training. Safety education is perhaps one of the greatest 
contributions of industrial arts to vocational efficiency. The 
use of instruction sheets and working plans puts upon a 
pupil the challenge to solve his own problems in a way 
that no other subject in the curriculum can possibly do. 
So it may be said that the challenge of large classes, the 
organizing and selection of subject-matter from so vast an 
area of material, the administrative ability required to main¬ 
tain in working condition such an array of supplies and 
equipment as no other teacher even approaches, requires 
strong virile teachers whose methods and techniques are an 
inspiration to the teachers in all other classes. 

The text or reference booh .—The teacher with limited ex¬ 
perience will find the effectiveness of his teaching greatly 
improved if the learning units are developed with the aid 
of a well-written text. The pupils get a certain feeling of 
satisfaction and respect toward the subject, when a textbook 
is used as a good reference source. There is evidence that 
the well-directed use of a textbook enables the pupil to work 


74 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


more effectively while in the shop, because the teacher does 
not have to spend time lecturing about subjects that are 
adequately treated in the text. 

The scope of the subject matter for shop work on the 
high-school level is so vast that it is impossible for any 
teacher to be well informed in all phases. The teaching load, 
that is, the number of pupils per teacher and in some cases 
the longer school day, requires the teacher to conserve his 
energy for teaching; therefore, from the physical point of 
view the teacher should not be required to write his own text 
material. There is considerable evidence that much of the 
mimeographed material heretofore in use is not carefully 
written or well organized. The net result from the use of 
miscellaneous mimeographed material and other assembled 
texts is often a type of instructional material of poor quality 
as to English and typography. 

It may not be possible to secure a basic text to cover some 
of the general shop courses. A few reference books, care¬ 
fully selected, may be placed in the shop in sufficient quan¬ 
tities for the needs of a class. Emphasis is placed, however, 
on the desirability of using such texts even though only 
three or four are available. A library of pertinent material 
is essential. 

The high-school shop .—The shifting emphasis for indus¬ 
trial arts on the high-school level focuses our attention on 
the equipment and general plan for the liigh-school shop. 
How shall it differ from the junior high school shop? Shall 
the tools and machines be larger, more extensive, more 
specialized? The principles upon which the high-school 
program is based should answer these questions. 

THE CONTRIBUTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Changing social and economic environment is emphasiz¬ 
ing new values for old objectives. The principles and proc¬ 
esses which underlie industrial occupations have been quite 
generally accepted as being the basis for the organization 
of the subject matter of industrial arts. The rapidly chang¬ 
ing methods in manufacturing have emphasized the inade¬ 
quacy of narrowly specialized trade training, and the de¬ 
mand for young workers with a broad, diversified training 
seems to show that the experiences with a variety of mate- 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 75 

rials, machines, tools, and processes have become a desirable 
kind of trade training. At least thejoroad training as sug¬ 
gested in a good program of industrial arts increases the 
effectiveness of later intensive, specialized trade courses. 

The contribution of industrial arts to industrial trade 
training is too obvious to require proof. It is not necessary 
to justify a strong industrial arts program in a senior high 
school on the vocational need alone; the fact that 28.9 per¬ 
cent of all persons 10 years of age and over gainfully em¬ 
ployed in 1930 were working in manufacturing and mechan¬ 
ical industries indicates that the vocational values of indus¬ 
trial arts are important. There is justification for special¬ 
ized trade classes in some of the more inclusive trade units, 
but only larger communities will be able to provide instruc¬ 
tion in more than a few trades. Since the great majority 
of our youth will be attending comprehensive high schools 
until they are 18 years of age, it is evident that the high- 
school industrial arts program represents about all the con¬ 
tribution that many schools can make toward vocational 
education. 

The realization that industrial arts has great value because 
of its contribution to industrial vocational education does 
not appear to have originated among the school people. 
Wherever industrial leaders meet to discuss the problems of 
manufacturing, the acute shortage of skilled workers is the 
topic of primary concern. The keen observer will soon detect 
that their prescription for alleviating this shortage is to 
develop stronger and more effective industrial arts programs. 
The demand on the part of industry that the schools shall 
direct more youth into the skilled occupations should not, 
however, influence the schools to place undue emphasis on 
employment as an outstanding objective for industrial arts. 
Consumer values, exploratory experiences, the development 
of leisure-time interests, and the essentials of a general edu¬ 
cation, will always remain coordinate and dominant objec¬ 
tives for an industrial arts program in the senior high school. 

SAFETY EDUCATION 

The only excuse for emphasizing safety education by 
making it a special topic in this bulletin is because indus- 

34968 °— 38 - 6 


76 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


trial arts education can contribute more in this field than 
any other division within a school organization. Safety 
education represents an outstanding social need at the pres¬ 
ent time. Industrial education deals with the effect of the 
machine on our social order. Machines have placed people 
in hazardous situations, and the use of machines has taken a 
toll in human life as has no war or pestilence. Therefore 
the subject-matter of industrial arts must deal directly with 
safety in relation to the machines which are used. The 
attitude that “the right way is the safe way” must be 
developed. The general shop and the pupil personnel or¬ 
ganization provide ideal situations for making pupils safety 
conscious. 

Techniques and devices should be developed for teaching 
safety with as much care as the teaching of any skill. The 
shop teacher may well set up some very definite activities 
in safety practice. The moving picture, the picture slide, 
and the poster are in use in many schools. The post of 
“Safety Engineer” in the class organization makes instruc¬ 
tion vital. It is rather impressive to have one member of 
the class wear a badge or emblem of this important office. 

The practice of requiring each student to take some kind 
of preliminary examination before being allowed even to 
start work on a machine has been found an effective teaching 
aid. Teachers will find that safety can be made the basis 
for good housekeeping, orderly conduct, and industrious 
work. 

A new philosophy of education for secondary schools is 
being advocated. A study of the history of educational 
development in this country indicates that every generation 
of adults in their turn have recommended changes for the 
youth immediately following their own era. In general, 
changes are not readily accepted and adjustments are made 
slowly. May we not assume, therefore, that changes recom¬ 
mended in our present educational plan as it applies to 
secondary schools may fare about the same as recommenda¬ 
tions have fared in the past. There will be changes, not 
radical but continual. 


CHAPTER V: SCHOOL PROGRAMS FOR ADULTS 


ADULT EDUCATION AS A RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PUBLIC 
SCHOOLS 

Public education functions not only in the interests of 
young people, but also for the great body of persons whose 
full-time connection with the schools has ceased but w T ho 
are desirous of further training. The latter group have 
passed the age for compulsory school attendance, and are 
employed or are eligible for employment. They are from 
16 to 50 or more years of age; they have accepted respon¬ 
sibilities for work, for self-support, and for family main¬ 
tenance. Their outlook is that of adulthood. 

Because the fundamental justification for public educa¬ 
tion lies in the development of an enlightened citizenry, the 
responsibility of the public schools extends indefinitely into 
the adult field. Provisions for the continued development 
of every person, of whatever age, who desires and can profit 
from further education, is a concern of the public schools. 
There is no normal person who cannot improve himself in 
some knowledge, appreciation, ability, or attitude, and hence 
in citizenship qualities, if he or she wills to do so. The 
school organization provides stimulus and facilities for per¬ 
sonal and social growth. Public education admits no re¬ 
striction, from the viewpoint of its citizenship objective, 
upon the range of educational service to the community, 
save only the limitations of the students in the capacity 
and the will to learn. The schools recognize, however, the 
practical limitations which are inherent in budget-making 
and taxation problems, but they find as their service in¬ 
creases in value to the community that school support is 
the more readily obtained. 

A principle of public education which is generally recog¬ 
nized is stated in the following phrasing by a State de¬ 
partment of public instruction: 

Every individual is entitled to educational opportunity com¬ 
mensurate with his ability and interests up to the point where 

77 




78 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


the law of diminishing returns to society indicates further pro¬ 
vision will not be profitable either to the individual or to 
society. 

This principle here set forth recognizes that the public 
schools exist primarily for the good of society and assumes 
that to the degree that every individual is helped by the 
schools to improve his or her personal resources—whether 
for occupational efficiency, for intellectual development, for 
intelligent choice at the ballot box, or for recreation—to 
that extent is society the gainer. Educational facilities 
available to adults in their free time—evenings, late after¬ 
noons, Saturdays—render valuable community service. 
Mature persons have need of the schools to meet a great 
variety of educational objectives, corresponding to their 
individual desires. These desires are analyzed in the suc¬ 
ceeding section and the part that industrial arts can con¬ 
tribute to their realization is pointed out. 

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES OF ADULTS 

The educational objectives of adults whether men or 
women vary according to individual needs and desires, but, 
in general, they may be classified under the headings which 
follow. An individual may be actuated by several of these 
objectives, which it is possible to realize by enrolling in 
part-time or evening public-school classes. However, as 
class time is limited—usually to 4 or 6 hours per week—the 
objective for each course is usually rather specific. Con¬ 
sequently, he is impelled to select the course which corre¬ 
sponds to his present dominant interest. As one purpose 
is satisfied he enrolls for another course or activity which 
meets his next most prominent objective. Evening or other 
extension schools for adults frequently organize their offer¬ 
ings on the unit basis of 6-week or 12-week courses, each of 
which meets some particular educational need. 

Industrial arts and its associated field of vocational edu¬ 
cation contribute to the realization of all of the objectives 
here given. Industrial arts makes for the general develop- 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 79 

ment of the individual, through work and study in the 
realm of industry, while vocational education through spe¬ 
cific training aids the person to attain proficiency for or in an 
occupation. Industrial arts objectives tend to merge with 
those of industrial vocational education for many adults, 
according to the degree to which the purpose becomes spe¬ 
cifically occupational. An examination of provisions for 
adult education will reveal the contributions that industrial 
arts can make toward the realization of the implied ob¬ 
jectives : 

1. Economic advancement within the present occupa¬ 
tion. —The adult school provides educational opportunities 
through vocational extension courses for those persons who 
desire particular training supplementary to their daily 
employment. It also provides, through as wide an indus¬ 
trial arts program as is feasible, opportunities for those 
who feel the need of broadening their interests, of increasing 
their knowledge of industry and economics, and of adjusting 
their personality and talents to the occupational world. 

2. Training for a new occupation. —Trade preparatory 
vocational courses may be offered in free-time classes, if 
conditions arfe such that these courses would be truly func¬ 
tional in aiding the student to gain a foothold in the new 
occupation. At entrance upon employment in the new line, 
objective (1) becomes dominant with many individuals as 
they realize the necessity for continued improvement. On 
the other hand, the persons who feel the need for guidance, 
for exploration of occupations, or for personality adjustment 
to industrial conditions, are served by industrial arts facili¬ 
ties, and are the better oriented in planning for a new 
vocation. 

3. Extension of formal education. —The adult school may 
provide facilities by which programs of general education 
which were interrupted in earlier life may be resumed. 
High-school diploma courses, or subjects required for satis¬ 
faction of college-entrance requirements, are examples of 
this service. Industrial arts for some persons may enter to 


80 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


the extent to which it would be a part of some curriculum 
selection. For others, industrial arts experiences may be the 
core around which would be built the programs of general 
development. 

4. Americanization. —English classes for the foreign-born, 
and instruction leading to naturalization, are commonly of¬ 
fered by extension schools. Industrial arts should have a 
large part in Americanization training, because of its unique 
contributions to the individual’s interpretation of American 
industrial life, and to his adjustment to social conditions in 
this country. 

5. Association with others in improvement of community 
conditions. —Auditorium exercises, choral and instrumental 
music, motion pictures, group discussions, dramatics, com¬ 
munity league work, exemplify this phase of adult educa¬ 
tion. Industrial arts makes a valuable contribution to the 
growth of those participating, through its experiences with 
tools, materials, and construction which are called for by 
community enterprises. 

6. Conservation of health. —As examples of such services 
the schools may provide gymnasium facilities, organize hik¬ 
ing clubs, conduct classes in personal mental and industrial 
hygiene. Industrial arts is contributory to health for many 
persons by developing muscular coordination, by supplying 
pleasurable hand activity, and by developing knowledge and 
appreciation of industrial conditions as a basis for personal 
adjustments to them. 

7. Social urge for companionship with persons of similar 
interests. —Neighborhood clubs or groups may be sponsored 
and assisted by the schools, for singing and other musical 
activities, dancing, games, athletics, debates, and hobby ac¬ 
tivities. As is discussed at some length in later parts of this 
section, industrial arts has valuable contributions to make 
in those social activities which would center in the school 
shops. 

8. Development of recreational interests. —The encourage¬ 
ment and promotion of wholesome recreational interests is 
an important part of the work of the adult school in devel¬ 
oping citizenship. Facilities may be provided for the learn¬ 
ing or for the exercise of skills and knowledge in a great 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 81 

variety of avocational activities, limited in range only to the 
resources which can be made available. The industrial arts 
shops serve in the stimulation and development of many 
interests in the field of handicraft. 

RECREATIONAL VALUES OF INDUSTRIAL ARTS IN THE 
ADULT SCHOOL 

Industrial arts in evening or part-time classes has been 
shown to have a bearing upon all of the services which 
attract adult students to the public schools. Its values for 
the various objectives have been suggested in the preceding 
discussions. It has been indicated as calling for different 
degrees of emphasis, according to the particular reason for 
the individual’s attendance. 

Industrial arts is the activity through which many adults 
will find that they can meet the need for enlargement of 
their conception of the industrial world, and for better 
adjustment in personal traits and resources to the demands 
of an industrial environment. Aside from vocational 
improvement or retraining, it is the recreational values of 
industrial arts, however, which are usually the most obvious 
to adults, and which bring them initially under the influ¬ 
ence of the schools. Many of the other values mentioned 
in this discussion become evident to the students after their 
introduction to the adult schools on an avocational basis. 
Such persons ask for industrial arts manipulation, study, 
and construction for the satisfactions which arise from rec¬ 
reational activity involving the personal creation of articles 
of beauty and utility. From the point of view of commu¬ 
nity progress and the development of a school program of 
continued service for various objectives, the schools find it 
worth while to give particular recognition to the recrea¬ 
tional and hobby interests of their students. 

Happy is the man or woman who has a dominant inter¬ 
est—a hobby—for leisure hours, other than his craft or pro¬ 
fession. Chess, bridge, golf, reading, the collection of stamps 
or autographs, gardening, photography, amateur crafts¬ 
manship; these are illustrations of the innumerable recre¬ 
ational activities of adults. Hobby work with tools and 
materials possesses absorbing interest for many persons 


82 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


whose livelihoods are gained in other pursuits. Men and 
women alike, whether engaged in busines, nursing, the pro¬ 
fessions, homemaking, or other occupations, can find pleas¬ 
ure and recreation in their free hours in building model 
yachts, or making furniture, or fashioning articles of jew¬ 
elry, or doing minor repair work in their homes. Crafts¬ 
manship carries the peculiar joy of creating things. A 
boat, a table, a toy, a dish or bowl, a ring or bracelet, grows 
visibly and pleasurably under the hand of the amateur 
craftsman of either sex. Articles for personal use or for 
gifts emerge with individuality and pride built into them. 
The satisfaction of the desire to create that is attained 
through these experiences makes for the culture of the 
individual. Good taste is developed, appreciation of beauty 
and craftsmanship is gained, skills with tools are extended, 
and knowledge of industrial processes and of the problems 
of workers is acquired. 

It is important to recognize that industrial arts—whether 
in the full-time school for young people or in the extension 
school for adults—is not specifically vocational in purpose, 
although it contributes by providing experiences valuable 
for exploration and adjustment toward occupational effi¬ 
ciency. Its values lie in the general development of the in¬ 
dividual. Specific occupational objectives are served under 
the companion name of vocational education. It is desir¬ 
able that students of industrial arts be organized in groups 
distinct from those set up for definite vocational instruction, 
in order that the particular objectives of the students be 
served most effectively. It may occur that an adult in 
recreational shopwork, for example, will disclose aptitudes 
in design or construction which he or she would desire to 
develop into trade skills for entrance into a new vocation. 
In a school of well-rounded facilities enrollment may be 
made for specific vocational objectives in another class. 

TYPES OF INDUSTRIAL-ARTS ACTIVITIES FOR 
RECREATIONAL VALUES 

Industrial-arts experiences desired by adults for recrea¬ 
tional purposes may lie in such varied fields as woodwork, 
metalwork, electricity, radio, automobile maintenance, the 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 83 

plastic arts, the graphic arts, ceramics, textiles, costuming, 
pageantry, puppetry, stagecraft, interior decorating, pho¬ 
tography, and jewelry making. 

Men and women alike may be interested in any of these 
handicrafts. The only limits to the variety of school of¬ 
ferings are those of financial and physical resources. Some 
individuals will desire to learn enough about tools to operate 
a home workshop; others will want to make decorative 
articles for use in the home or in the office; still others 
will ask for instruction in various home repairs. All will 
find enjoyment for leisure hours. 

The specific activities which the adult school may provide 
in recreational industrial arts, if facilities can be made 
available, are illustrated, but by no means exhausted, in 
the following list: 

Wood and metal finishing: 

Painting, staining, graining, varnishing, spraying. 

Construction of articles for the home, church, club: 

Furniture, toys, camp outfits, screens, radio sets, 
baskets, puppet stages, puppets. 

Model building for personal or children’s use: 

Kites, model boats, miniature airplanes. 

Leather crafts: 

Handbags, purses, cardholders, bookbinding. 

Home repairs: 

Fixing electrical cords, repairing fixtures and ap¬ 
pliances, replacing washers in faucets, cleaning 
traps, adjusting tank mechanisms, patching holes 
with plaster, refinishing cement walks, sharpen¬ 
ing tools, adjusting motors, locks, or hinges, re¬ 
placing chair seats, rehanging window shades. 

Jewelry craft and art-metal work: 

Designing and making rings, brooches, chains, 
bracelets, trays, plant stands, ornamental contain¬ 
ers. 

Modeling and carving in soap, clay, or wood: 

Images, placques, desk accessories, frames, pottery. 

Automobile maintenance: 

Lubrication, tire repairs, carburetor adjustment, 
cleaning, battery servicing, lamp replacement. 


84 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


Textile craft: 

Designing and developing weaves, dyeing, garment 
making. 

Gardening: 

Building rustic furniture, making bird baths, bird 
houses, garden ornaments, trellises, replacing 
handles on tools. 

The content of the school instruction in industrial-arts 
work of this sort must take into account any legal require¬ 
ments which may enter into certain of the items of home 
maintenance. The amateur craftsman must know that 
electrical installations are subject to official inspection and 
certification; that only a registered plumber is authorized by 
law, in some localities, to do certain types of plumbing 
work; that an extension to the house, or a new garage or 
shed, requires a legal permit in many communities. He 
learns through the school to stay within the field of recrea¬ 
tional handicraft, his activity is essentially play and avoca¬ 
tion rather than production. 

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 

Instruction of adults in the industrial arts is of necessity 
highly individualized. Rarely will two students have iden¬ 
tical motives for school attendance, or the same background 
of knowledge or skill. The teacher is a counselor and guide, 
rather than a mere instructor. For manipulative activities, 
he uses chiefly the method of demonstration for individuals 
or for small groups; for information as to processes and 
craft theory he points out appropriate reference material. 
He recognizes that each student feels a specific need, al¬ 
though the needs of the group may be as various as the 
individuals in the group; he sees to it that each person 
initiates and develops plans to satisfy his expressed need; 
he advises and assists each student in performing the oper¬ 
ations required in carrying through the problem; and he 
insists that each individual makes critical appraisal of the 
results of the work. Time and quantity of output are not 
usually important factors, but originality and correctness in 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 85 


design, accuracy in craftsmanship, excellence of finish, and 
satisfaction of personal pride, are the desired elements of 
accomplishment. 

FINANCING INDUSTRIAL ARTS FOR ADULTS 

In recent years school boards in increasing numbers have 
recognized the values to the community of recreational in¬ 
dustrial arts for mature persons, and have opened the school 
shops for this purpose in evenings or late afternoons or 
on Saturday mornings. In some cases where the school 
budgets were temporarily restricted, it was found possible 
to secure volunteer teachers or leaders pending the time 
when proper salary recognition could be made for the direc¬ 
tion of the group. 

The materials used for practice and for project construc¬ 
tion are usually paid for by the student. He may be asked 
to bring to the school shop any supplies he will need, or 
he may be charged a laboratory fee for reimbursement to 
the school for material which the requisition procedure of 
the school system has provided. 

Instances have occurred in which a room and equipment 
have been furnished by private or community enterprise, 
especially in places where the school shops were for the 
time inadequate for the needs of the adult group. Spon¬ 
sorship of the activity and the teacher, however, is properly 
a function of the public-school authorities, because of the 
responsibility which public education bears for recognition 
and support of adult education. 


CHAPTER VI: IN HIGHER EDUCATION 


A PERSISTENT NEED 

Industrial arts is a function of complete living and should 
not be restricted to the programs of the elementary and 
secondary schools. The needs and interests of college stu¬ 
dents, as well as the cumulative effect of courses and expe¬ 
riences suggest that offerings be arranged in higher insti¬ 
tutions of all types. Acknowledgment of industrial arts as 
an essential part of general education leads to its provision 
at the college level as well as in the elementary school and 
the high school. Conditions of life which call for its teach¬ 
ing persist in the individual and in society, in ever more 
urgent form. It may be said that both the necessity for 
and the effect of strengthened development in this phase of 
learning is cumulative. Therefore, with repetition admit¬ 
ted, attention is called to a few of the major aims of indus¬ 
trial arts work as presented in preceding chapters. These 
several aims, and a hundred more, are truly constant. They 
reflect needs and force arrangements which differ only in 
kind as new, levels of growth are attained. Industrial arts 
is a function of full life, regardless of age and grade, and 
despite its common assignment to the earlier levels of our 
educational system. 

Because we believe that each person has a tendency to¬ 
ward manual activity, an impulse to creative expression, 
and a preference for concrete experiences, we cannot set a 
time for denial of formal assistance in keeping with these 
urges. A man or a woman of 20 years, as well as a child of 
10, deserves opportunities to develop continuously, through 
every natural avenue and under informed supervision. 

It has been argued that courses in industrial arts have 
guidance value, in that they aid in the discovery and reali¬ 
zation of interests and talents. It has been urged that such 
86 




ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 87 

courses have potential effect in the development of worthy 
qualities such as resourcefulness, perseverance, planned pro¬ 
cedure, and self-discipline. These helps continue to be 
needed by adults as well as by children. The continued 
services implied are the province and the purpose of edu¬ 
cation at the college level as well as below it. Therefore, 
there is no definite time for us to slacken attempts to pro¬ 
vide better understanding of the materials and processes 
of manufacture, of the necessity for skillful work, and of 
the conditions and problems of industrial employment. 
People, in their development, never cease to need better 
interpretation of the physical, artistic, and social environ¬ 
ment. They never lose interest in the location of raw ma¬ 
terials, their working properties, their methods of fabrica¬ 
tion, and their ultimate uses. Appreciation of good prod¬ 
ucts, expert craftsmanship, and functional design should 
be developed under guidance as long as the need exists and 
as long as the opportunity is present. 

College students should be privileged to experience the 
joy of creative accomplishment, the exercise of judgment 
when facing a technical problem, and the learning of les¬ 
sons of thrift so ably afforded by craft work and produc¬ 
tive mechanical activity. We must not restrict these broad¬ 
ening influences to the programs of elementary schools and 
high schools. They must be permitted to play parts in all 
instructional situations and in all educational institutions, 
both public and private, both cultural and vocational. 
Moreover, we must not confine these offerings to the selected 
few individuals who promise superior acceptance and high 
professional use. Some industrial arts courses should be 
required of all students, for purposes of orientation and 
for developing fundamental skills and insights. Later, for 
selected groups, no amount of diversity or intensity can be 
too extreme if consistent with college purposes. In our 
attempt to meet student needs and to match their interests, 
two dangers must be avoided. We must not limit curricu¬ 
lum offerings and we must not set up administrative regu- 


88 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


lations that are out of accord with universally recognized 
belief in individual differences. Industrial arts can be 
made an important factor in meeting the curriculum needs 
of certain groups in our heterogeneous college enrollments 
provided the administration of the curriculum is sufficiently 
liberal to allow freedom in the selection of subjects accord¬ 
ing to basic individual interests and needs. 

OFFERING AND MANAGEMENT 

The elementary schools and junior and senior high schools 
are committed to functions different from those of institu¬ 
tions of higher rank. They have tended, through the years, 
toward a common practice relative to the areas of subject- 
matter employed in the meeting of their specific purposes. 
Likewise, their courses and sequences, their floor spaces and 
equipments, and their method and management plans have 
come into closer likeness. It has seemed worth while to 
effect some measure of standardization of the experiences 
afforded students at these three earlier levels, and it has 
appeared to be equally important that these three successive 
school units should remain somewhat unlike. With the 
fullest possible recognition of the needs and rights of locali¬ 
ties, these three parts of the American program have moved 
toward a reasonable sameness with no great difficulty. 

This fundamental principle of consistence in elementary 
and secondary education needs applications at the higher 
levels. Colleges and universities, however, tend to in¬ 
corporate departments, courses, and services which reflect 
varied institutional purposes. Through the leadership of 
field specialists and through the exchange of ideas among 
administrators and faculties, the work of the colleges be¬ 
comes more uniform within functional groups. It is not 
anticipated that the curriculums and plans of all higher in¬ 
stitutions will become ultimately identical. They may well 
be similar, but only when the institutional types and pur¬ 
poses are similar. Each college must make its own decisions 
as to the departments to be embraced, the places to be 
assigned them in the organization, the courses to be offered, 
the entrance requirements and standards to be maintained' 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 89 


the methods to be employed, and the relationships to be 
fostered. 

Many boys have been denied industrial arts experiences in 
their early schools, by reason of small enrollments or in¬ 
flexible diploma patterns, and the door of opportunity must 
not be closed to them in the colleges. Many young women, 
likewise, apply for college entrance who have had no 
previous introduction to manipulative and related work. 
Some students of both sexes enroll from private and de¬ 
nominational schools which are almost if not quite devoid 
of the kind of instruction here considered. The needs of 
the students thus characterized will indicate large and im¬ 
portant educational gaps in college programs that must be 
considered by those having administrative responsibility. 
These needs vary greatly with students and bring continu¬ 
ing and difficult problems in administration and instruction. 
Some students desire relief from full academic schedules. 
Some need wholesome recreation which may lead almost 
unknowingly into worth-while leisure-time pursuits. Some 
want better understanding of changes in technology and 
in consequent employment conditions. Some have aims 
purely cultural and hope that their new courses may enrich 
and deepen their major fields of study. Others need to 
plan, through margins, a better adjustment to a changing 
world of work. Still others seek professional careers in 
the applied and fine arts. 

All the needs of these various groups of young people 
are logical and deserving; all of their claims upon the time 
and assistance of higher institutions are natural and valid. 
Thus curriculums in the field of industrial arts at the college 
level should be devised in terms of group intentions and 
desires. They must not blindly follow the old organization 
charts nor should they embrace only the old divisions of 
content subjects. Orientation courses, of both class-room 
and laboratory type, would seem to be the first need. These 
broad offerings will provide initial contact and stimulation 
for many. They will discover the abilities as well as the 
needs of individual students. More important still, they 
will bring groups into view whose common deficiencies and 
desires will answer perplexing questions as to what services 
the college should extend. 


90 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


The specific areas of subject-matter, the types of courses 
to be offered, and the media of instruction most appropriate 
for college curriculums should not be given here. General 
acceptance of a pattern, however worthy, should not be 
assumed or suggested. Too much stress cannot be placed 
upon the right, as well as the duty, of an institution to 
canvass the whole world of the arts for elements to fit its 
program. Shall it offer instruction in pottery, leather work, 
or painting? Shall it continue the woodwork, metal work, 
printing, and other subjects offered in the elementary and 
general high schools? Shall it teach textiles, industrial de¬ 
sign, or interior decoration? Shall it present architecture, 
stage-craft, or freehand sketching ? Shall it touch upon the 
problems of related science and of new machine techniques ? 
Hundreds of such units will rush to mind in mixed array. 
Likewise, questions of function present themselves. Shall 
these courses be planned for recreation, for their value in 
correlation, or for specific vocational use ? Shall they serve 
to promote domestic intelligence, a knowledge of employ¬ 
ment problems, or a broadened social vision? Shall the 
selection of courses be based upon and their organization 
be patterned with reference to materials, processes, or prod¬ 
ucts? What skills, informations, appreciations, and atti¬ 
tudes are intended to be developed? These questions and 
a host of others, all related to institutional purposes, cannot 
be answered here. They must remain subject to the judg¬ 
ment of those conversant with and responsible in specific 
situations. 

Nevertheless, certain considerations may be urged for 
emphasis in the plans of college administrators and faculties 
generally. Modern trends would dictate that college and 
departmental lines not be permitted to act as barriers to 
meeting student needs or to the integration of content. It 
may be suggested that the related and informational phases, 
though extremely important, should not overshadow the 
manipulative and problem-solving aspects of the subjects. 
Experience has shown that the extra classroom activities of 
an institution may be effectively merged with the work of 
industrial arts. Services to the school, to the community, 
to the State, as well as to the students themselves, should be 
recognized as practical goals. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 91 

Library materials of good account and varied types are 
needed to supplement or complement activities connected 
with shop and laboratory equipment. All nearby agencies 
and institutions both of an art and of a commercial char¬ 
acter, which can contribute to the training in industrial arts, 
should be utilized to the full. Cooperative arrangements 
may be effected with off-campus individuals and organiza¬ 
tions, especially in that phase of the program dealing 
strictly with occupational preparation. High standards of 
accomplishment must be set and maintained, and the grad¬ 
ing of students’ work must match these standards with un¬ 
failing rigidness. All teachers must be not only well- 
informed and inspiring, but also skillful and artistic. Some 
industrial arts instruction should be required of all students, 
while the intensive specialization of a selected few students 
should be given secondary consideration. 

SOME TYPICAL SITUATIONS 

It has been repeatedly stated in this chapter that indus¬ 
trial arts offerings should match institutional purposes and 
that plans should be made for recognizing the needs of 
different groups within the student body. Like emphasis 
has been given to the belief that standard programs cannot 
be provided for all colleges of a given type nor for all 
similar groups of students within them. The following 
kinds of schools are typical and they exist in large numbers 
throughout the country. Equally typical are the groups of 
students within them. The few situations here considered 
are intended to illustrate how plans may be made in terms 
of group needs, without doing violence to any arrangements 
made upon other bases. Serving groups does not mean 
neglecting individuals, nor does it mean the upsetting of 
school or departmental organizations. The statements here 
made are offered merely as suggestions. 

The junior college .—The junior college is usually a 2-year 
institution which exacts high-school graduation or the equiv¬ 
alent for entrance and which may be either publicly or pri¬ 
vately supported. The number of such institutions, organ¬ 
ized under local boards of education increased rather rapid- 
34968 0 —38—7 


92 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


ly during the period of 1931-1935. The curriculums of such 
schools should be given all possible breadth. It should not 
be assumed that all of the students enrolled will complete 
degree requirements at other and higher institutions. Many 
of them will need terminal programs 2 years or less in 
length. Industrial arts work offered in these colleges can 
serve as: 

Cultural courses. —For all persons of full-time enroll¬ 
ment and for interested individuals to elect in the customary 
way. 

Preparatory courses. —For those who will specialize later 
in such fields as engineering, forestry, art education, and 
industrial teaching. 

Semiprofessional courses. —For those who will imme¬ 
diately enter pursuits requiring less than full college prepa¬ 
ration but who will need some special help not obtainable in 
the high school. 

Vocational courses. —For those who desire preparation 
for trades and like employments but who cannot attend vo¬ 
cational schools because of distance and expense. Coopera¬ 
tive agreements or supervised apprenticeship may be con¬ 
sidered college responsibilities in connection with these 
courses. The same may be said of the semi-professional 
offerings. 

Evening classes for adults should be a regular part of the 
program in all industrial arts fields. Each institution 
should serve as a center for the higher types of community 
activity in support of this work. 

The arts college. —-As a 4-year institution, usually with¬ 
out special vocational function, the arts college can render 
important services in raising the level of general scholastic 
attainment among the people and in developing the highest 
ideals and practices of living and of social participation. 
These higher schools find increasing use for departments, 
divisions, and courses classifiable as industrial arts. Proper¬ 
ly organized industrial arts subjects in these institutions can 
serve as: 

Cultural courses. —For all students or as electives to serve 
in orientation to an increasing realm of worth-while con¬ 
tent. Likewise, courses of the lecture rather than the labo- 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 93 


ratory kind, in amplification of older and more formal sub¬ 
jects. (Example: Art Metal Work, The History of Archi¬ 
tecture, Commercial or Industrial Design.) 

Related courses. —In which art, science, mathematics, 
drawing, etc., have close interlocking relationship with work 
fields, tools, instruments, processes, and materials. (Ex¬ 
ample : Art and design in costuming, chemistry in medicine, 
mathematics in mechanical drafting, physics in music.) 

Technical courses. —Of advanced type in elective fields, 
for those who enjoy manipulation, who are developing lei¬ 
sure pursuits, or w T lio may have intentions of earning 
through productive employment. (Example: Painting, 
carving, bookbinding, general crafts, interior decoration.) 

The teachers college. —In this institution, whose purpose is 
to prepare those who would serve as teachers or other educa¬ 
tional workers in schools and elsewhere, industrial arts cer¬ 
tainly should find a place. Whether or not an institution has 
special vocational departments is not a pertinent question as 
to the inclusion of industrial arts subjects. In this insti¬ 
tution organized subjects in industrial arts can serve as: 

Cultural courses. —For all students enrolled, upon the 
assumption that teachers of any subject and at any grade 
level will need this fundamental element in a broad educa¬ 
tion. Advanced courses of cultural kind for election by 
those who find special interest or who show marked ability 
in this field. 

Special courses. —Designed to meet the needs of those pur¬ 
suing certain special types of instruction. For example, 
instruction to qualify for teaching rural schools, elementary 
grades, subnormal classes, physically handicapped groups, 
etc. Emphasis should be given in such courses to the con¬ 
tent of industrial arts, to manipulative activities, and to 
acquaintance with the materials and projects likely to be 
employed in these particular teaching fields. 

Special curricula. —For such vocational departments as 
may be parts of the college program. (For example: Indus¬ 
trial arts education, art education, agricultural education, 
home economics education, etc.) In the preparation of all 
such curricula, care should be taken to the end that academic 
and educational background not be overbalanced by manipu- 


94 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


lative and professional units representative of the specialty 
concerned. 

In-service courses. —Designed for graduates who may re¬ 
turn for summer sessions or who may be aided through 
extension arrangements. Such courses should be based, in 
content and method, upon the problems that individual 
teachers are meeting in their daily work. Attention should 
be given also to preparation for changed schedules or assign¬ 
ments anticipated by such teachers. 

The university. —This institution is a group or an asso¬ 
ciation of colleges, each with a vocational purpose. The 
aims of such an institution are suggested by the words 
culture , preparation , service , leadership , and research. In¬ 
dustrial arts subjects are a logical part of the elementary 
preparation in most of the fields represented by the uni¬ 
versity. One college may serve another through providing 
industrial arts subjects which are of advantage to both. 
The university may serve the community, the State, or a 
still larger area by offering formal instruction and through 
other services, to an extent limited only by the vision and 
enthusiasm of its faculties. Experimentation and other 
types of research will be a major function, not only of the 
instruction offered but also of the institutional services 
rendered. 

There is no call for uniformity of plans and practices 
among these institutions, but it is important that each one 
should match its own specific purposes in this curriculum 
area as in others. There should be recognition not only of 
individual desires but of the needs of groups of students, 
identified by common characteristics or by occupational 
choices. The field should not be considered appropriate only 
for elective purposes, only for learners of meager academic 
ability, or only for students of high professional promise in 
the crafts and related arts. It is a necessary part of the 
general education of all and is an extensive and exacting 
realm of study for those of recognized talent. 


CHAPTER VII: EXTENSIONS OF THE PROGRAM 
BROADENED RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEACHERS 

Teachers of industrial-arts work have a responsibility for 
service beyond that which they have in the regular day 
school. This is due to the increasing use of the school plant 
in community service, the guidance duties, the extension 
service, and the growing desire of the community that the 
teachers should take part in local activities. This responsi¬ 
bility makes it obligatory upon them to seek and to accept 
opportunities for service which are expressed in supple¬ 
mental types of work that tie the school closely to the home 
and the community. In these days of searching criticism 
of school costs, community service of this nature has a 
large value. It leads to greater community support, and 
this is essential to the normal growth of schools. 

Duties outside of the classroom naturally vary with the 
community and year; they change from year to year and 
from season to season. Sometimes they overlap school 
duties, but more frequently they occur after school hours, 
or during week ends. Many of them are an outgrowth of 
our newly found leisure, of forced inactivity, of endeavors 
to spend money wisely, of requests by social agencies for 
help, of rehabilitation, and of a desire to motivate instruc¬ 
tion in the formal classroom. For organization purposes 
they are segregated here into two classifications, namely, 
“Extra-day school duties” and “Out-of-school activities.” 

EXTRA-DAY SCHOOL DUTIES 

School clubs .—Among the many types of duties which are 
expected of industrial-arts teachers, we find responsibility 
for club organizations. School clubs are now commonly 
organized for both boys and girls. School authorities, rec¬ 
ognizing the very natural gregarious desire of young people, 
take advantage of this opportunity to reach many pupils. 
Clubs are a means of extending and supplementing the 

95 





96 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


exploratory curriculum. Many special departments and 
courses are organized as the direct result of the contribu¬ 
tion made to an educational objective by a school club, the 
club serving as an entering wedge to the curriculum. This 
procedure is apparent when clubs are organized to deal with 
typical child or occupational interests, such as model-air¬ 
plane construction, arts and crafts, archery, boatbuilding, 
printing, stagecraft, radio, and novelty work. Scores of 
other interests are developed with considerable success, 
leading eventually to the organization of regular classes of 
the same type. A more complete list follows: 


Aircraft. 

Antiquarian. 

Archery. 

Automobile. 

Basketry. 

Bird house. 

Boatbuilders. 

Camera. 

Collecting. 

Craft. 

Electricity. 

Employment. 

Exploratory. 

F'orestry. 

Foundry. 

Glider. 

Gun. 

Industrial. 

Inventors. 

Jigsaw. 

Kite. 

Leather. 

Machinery. 

Masonry. 


Mechanics. 

Metal. 

Model making. 

Museum. 

Opportunity. 

Pewter. 

Plumbing. 

Pottery. 

Press. 

Printing. 

Radio. 

Repair. 

Rug. 

Sheet metal. 

Stagecraft. 

Stereopticon. 

Taxidermy. 

Textile. 

Toy making. 
Trades. 

Tree. 

Weaving. 

Winders. 

Woodworkers. 


In schools where there is a rich offering of constructive 
activities in well-appointed shops or laboratories, clubs 
are likely to grow out of the laboratory experience. Indi¬ 
vidual pupils develop special interests which merit further 
study and experience. As school clubs generally admit 
pupils from various grade levels, membership should be 



ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 97 


restricted to pupils with advanced interest in the activities 
represented by the club. 

AFTERNOON AND EVENING CLASSES FOR MEN AND 
WOMEN 

Girls crave and need experience with the shop tools and 
materials. Throughout the ages, as pointed out in Chapter 
I, on Origins and Functions of Industrial Arts, mankind 
has, until recently, made all commodities which he has used. 

The great increase in commercially manufactured prod¬ 
ucts is depriving boys and girls of the opportunity to create 
and manufacture articles for their own use, and at the same 
time it is crowding into their lives a vast number of me¬ 
chanical contrivances and products which must be selected 
and used with intelligence. Among such articles may be 
mentioned electrical appliances found in the home, including 
electric stoves, the radio, the telephone, the vacuum cleaner, 
and the mechanical instruments and machines, such as sew¬ 
ing machines, typewriters, refrigerators, oil burners and 
air-conditioning apparatus, and cameras. Certainly indus¬ 
trial arts should provide boys and girls with experiences that 
will aid them in the use of these manufactured products. 

Among the objectives to which industrial arts work can 
contribute to both boys and girls and men and women may 
be mentioned: 

1. An understanding and appreciation of the products of indus¬ 

try (consumer value). 

2. Provision of the manual skills and knowledge necessary for 

the proper use and care of the products of industry (con¬ 
sumer experience values). 

3. An opportunity for creative expression through: 

The proper use of articles: 

For utility. 

For beauty. 

For mechanical efficiency. 

4. An understanding and appreciation of industry and its per¬ 

sonnel (social values). 

5. A point of departure for the study of the arts, crafts, and 

their related subject-matter (creative experience). 


98 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


Architecture .—Many of us own houses, others rent them— 
certainly all of us live in houses. Those who own or hope 
to own their home are interested in architecture. 

Classes in this subject should study house styles and exte¬ 
rior architecture. Floor plans, kitchen, parlor, dining room, 
bedroom, and bathroom locations should be studied. Good 
house construction, cost of building, cost of repairs, remod¬ 
eling plans, floor plans, interior trim and decoration, includ¬ 
ing staircases, fireplaces, window and door trim, are all 
important. This also includes the reading of house floor 
and building plans. 

How to select a home is an important and helpful topic. 
The prospective purchaser wonders how to know a well- 
built home. Consideration should be given to rafters, studs, 
foundations, floors, insulation, heating plants, conditioned 
air, plumbing, placement and type of lighting fixtures, etc. 

Automobile course .—The objectives of these courses are 
to educate the automobile purchaser and user to carry on 
their activities with a greater understanding and appreci¬ 
ation. 

How to buy an automobile is a problem which many of 
us face. The kind of car w T hich we need, the style which 
is best suited to our resources, how to finance the purchase, 
new and used cars, the cost of car operation, how to reduce 
the running costs, are all elements of how to select and 
purchase the car. The car owner should know something 
of the mechanical operation of the car, such as how the 
transmission gears mesh, the effect of clutch riding, care of 
tires, how to avoid excessive tire w T ear, the sound of the 
motor, how to detect faulty operation, protecting the gas 
line, changing oil, lubrication, antifreeze solution, heaters, 
radios, brake adjustments, horns, head-light adjustment, gas 
mixture and the results obtained, and many other details 
should be known and understood by all drivers. Rules of 
the road, laws, licensing, good driving practice, what to do 
when in an accident, how to drive on ice, wet pavement, 
mud roads, gravel roads, and smooth pavement are impor¬ 
tant. The right-of-way, insurance policies, legal rights, and 
good judgment should also be studied. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 99 


Consumer courses (our moneys worth ).—How do we 
spend our money? Courses designed to aid the purchaser 
to know values are very helpful. Such courses cross-section 
many other adult courses but because of concentrated em¬ 
phasis are more likely to be effective. Courses of this type 
should be developed around local interests, when they vary 
from general interests. 

General interests include the selection, purchase, use, 
care, and repair of products of industry. Inasmuch as most 
of us live in houses, run cars, use telephones, radios, stoves, 
furniture, clothes, dishes, carpets, drapes, curtains, and many 
other things, courses dealing with them would be interesting 
and very helpful to all of us. The newer things which we 
need to know something about are: Air conditioning, house 
insulation, oil burners, automatic heating devices, radios, 
and refrigeration. 

Then there is a need for courses of the type in which cos¬ 
metics, handbags, luggage, fountain pens, pencils, clocks, 
silverware, jewelry, and other personal articles are discussed 
and studied. 

Creative expression classes .—Creative expression through 
construction is a form of leisure-time activity which is en¬ 
joyed by many people. This type of work is chiefly of a 
shop or laboratory type. Little information beyond dem¬ 
onstrations should be given unless pupils display an in¬ 
terest in studying the historical and developmental phases. 
Among the types of work which are likely to find the best 
reception, we find: 


Clay modeling, pottery, ceramics 

work. 

Art-metal work. 

Ornamental iron work. 

Textile design and weaving. 
Rug weaving. 

Jewelry. 


Leather artcraft and tooling. 
Furniture building. 

Radio. 

Bookbinding. 

Model boatbuilding. 

Model airplane building. 


Drafting—Reading drawings— This includes the ability 
to read and understand conventional symbols as they are 
found in the many mechanical drawings which are printed 
in current magazines, newspapers, advertising literature, 
and manuals and diagrams which explain how to use and 



100 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


care for the host of mechanical contrivances which are used 
in and around the home. Many of our automobile drivers 
need to study car manuals to learn how they are constructed 
and how they operate. 

Furniture courses .—Two types of courses are needed in 
this field; i. e., construction and consumer courses. 

In the former classes, both men and women enjoy making 
and repairing furniture. Although the home workshop is 
taking over this type of work, there are many individuals 
who wish to learn something about this subject and who 
wish to make furniture of several types. In some cases, in¬ 
terests are turning toward the construction of metal fur¬ 
niture. This is partially supplanting the wooden furniture. 
Upholstery is also very popular. 

The second type of course is the consumers’ course. Here 
students would study period styles, their effect upon modern 
furniture design, grades of upholstery, woods used in furni¬ 
ture, wood finishes, and furniture in its setting. Trips to 
furniture factories and stores should supplement the dis¬ 
cussion of furniture construction. 

Household mechanics .—Girls and women in their work 
in the home use as many, if not more, of the mechanical 
products of industry than the men. Not only do they 
usually buy them but they also are responsible for their 
proper use, care, and repair. They should be taught to oil 
the bearings in machines at proper intervals; they should be 
taught to hear the unusual noises which mean difficulty; to 
detect trouble before it becomes serious. Some of the repairs 
needed are of such a character that a good repairman is 
needed. Others are so minute and simple that the house¬ 
wife can attend to them. They should be taught to make 
these repairs and to care for them in such a manner as to 
eliminate unnecessary repairs. Repairing of extension cords, 
replacement of fuses, sharpening of knives, driving nails and 
screws, painting, varnishing, staining, glueing of broken 
chairs, end tables, and other furniture, cleaning of traps 
under sinks, installation of curtain fixtures, cleaning and 
adjustment of gas burners, and replacement of belts are a 
few of the things which girls and women need to be able 
to do around the home. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 101 

Still other phases of repair work might well be considered. 
For many of these troubles repairmen must be secured. To 
know when to employ a man and where to get competent 
mechanics is valuable. To understand the suggestions of 
repairmen is essential. Intelligent and judicious selection of 
the repair expert makes for satisfactory results. 

Landscaping .—This course should be built around the 
interests and garden activities of the home owners. Gardens 
should be planned and laid out. The styles and kinds of 
decorative fences, walks, and furniture should be studied. 
Where to locate the foundation planting, rock gardens, per¬ 
ennial gardens, annual and perennial gardens; how and 
where to build the lily pond; how to build the fence or 
wall—are all essential. 

Textiles .—A goodly proportion of our incomes goes for 
the purchase of textile products. Rugs, clothes, drapes, cur¬ 
tains, wall hangings, upholstery covers, and many other 
articles are constantly being purchased and used by all of 
us. There is no other material product of industry which 
is so constantly used by us day in and day out. 

Courses emphasizing the historical culture of mankind in 
these materials are exceedingly rich. Rugs, hundreds of 
years old, are sold daily. Hand-made works of art valued 
at thousands of dollars are cherished by many people. 

Girls and women particularly derive great joy and satis¬ 
faction from the making of clothes, knit goods, needlework, 
rugs, and hangings. Much artistry and opportunity for 
creative craft expression may be found in spinning, dyeing, 
and weaving of textiles. Printed goods are very popular 
today and this type of work lends itself to inexpensive and 
fascinating activity for school and home work. 

The selection of silks, woolens, cottons, and rayons in 
particular, presents problems to us on which we have little 
data collected. Courses which will aid the consumer in the 
selection, purchase, use, and care of articles made from these 
materials are badly needed. 

Understanding industry .—Courses designed to provide an 
understanding of industry would be very helpful in devel¬ 
oping for the adult an intelligent appreciation of certain 
aspects of industry. A course of this type is practical only 


102 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


in cities where there are many factories. Trips through the 
various factories shall be preceded and followed by dis¬ 
cussion pertaining to their observation. Out of such visits 
should come an appreciation of working conditions of the 
various groups of employees, an understanding of the 
methods of industrial plants, an insight into the conditions 
causing labor troubles, organization of the personnel, and 
other features. Obviously, such a course would be informa¬ 
tive rather than manipulative. In fact, it might well em¬ 
phasize the social and industrial phases of industry. 

Community service .—Schools having industrial arts shops 
frequently receive requests for help from social agencies, 
especially during the Christmas season. Prior to Christmas, 
many schools do much in repairing toys for distribution to 
the poor. Such work cannot be made the core of a course, 
but it does play a part in the manner in which the school 
ought to be used. 

Special classes .—Special classes usually enroll either supe¬ 
rior or subnormal pupils. Both of these groups live in 
houses with furniture, drive or will drive cars, wear clothes, 
and eat, just as normal pupils do. It follows, therefore, that 
good use of the pupil’s time demands a normal shop expe¬ 
rience for both special groups. 

The slower groups need special attention and help, and 
should be given extra time in shop work. The operations 
and processes taught, the articles made, the problems pre¬ 
sented, and the knowledge acquired should be that for the 
normal child, modified to meet the individual needs. Such 
a situation leaves little room for special shops provided in 
many school systems in which they devote most of their 
time merely to weaving, caning chairs, coping saw work, 
basketry, and simple furniture. 

The small group of fast-moving pupils is segregated less 
often. To them, industrial arts also offers versatility, rich 
content, and greater opportunity. As their speed of accom¬ 
plishment in general subjects correlates very highly with 
their speed in shop work, they should be given more work 
of a difficult character, full of problems which challenge 
the abilities of the best pupils in the group. The attempt 
to meet individual differences is highly commendable. In- 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 103 

dustrial arts is of value to such groups of both extremes 
because of its rich and interesting content, and the motiva¬ 
tion which it provides for fuller use of the intellect. 

Summer and vacation schools. —Industrial arts courses 
offered during the summer vacations are always very popu¬ 
lar. Some of these summer courses are comparable to those 
given during the school year and others are not. Those 
which are similar to the courses of the school year are 
offered for credit. Examinations and tests are given and 
credit is allowed upon satisfactory completion of the work. 
Other schools provide industrial arts courses in the summer 
school, as recreational and leisure-time activities. This is 
particularly true in cities, where it seems advisable to at¬ 
tempt to keep the children off the streets. The interesting 
construction work and educational value of these courses 
is well demonstrated by the large enrollment in arts and 
crafts. 

On the playground. —Directors of playgrounds also find 
that provisions for shop work fill a definite need of the boy 
or girl seeking happiness throughout a long summer. Kain, 
wind, and the heat of the city streets, drive them to seek 
shelter. Gapies and books are not enough. The shop tools 
are welcomed. Leather, wood, metal, and electrical proj¬ 
ects; stage and pageant equipment and properties; and 
many other types of work are found to be helpful in keep¬ 
ing children off the city streets and happily occupied. It 
is a social service and an education at the same time. 

Home room and study halls. —Industrial arts instructors 
are a part of the teaching staff and as such are assigned to 
home room and study hall duties. This is a distinct advan¬ 
tage over the older practice of treating the industrial arts 
teacher as a special instructor. The opportunity to con¬ 
tact pupils not enrolled in industrial arts courses is a great 
asset. The informal guidance which an industrial arts 
teacher can contribute in this manner is very valuable. 

Stagecraft. —Dramatics is another phase of school work 
that enlists the aid of the shop teachers. This need can be 
admirably met through the organization of stage craft clubs 
or classes. The range of electrical experience, carpenti-y, 
painting, and other types of construction is exceedingly 


104 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


wide and should not be overlooked in any school where 
dramatics plays an important part in the school curriculum. 

OUT-OF-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES 

There are many requests that come to the industrial arts 
teacher from the community. These, too, tend to strengthen 
the school in the community and help the community to 
understand that the school and its staff are vital parts of 
rural, village, and neighborhood life as the case may be. 
Here, the industrial arts teacher serves in many capacities 
as the following instances will show. 

Social work .—Churches and social welfare centers fre¬ 
quently need assistance in developing leisure-time classes, 
craft classes, demonstrations, and in the organization of 
evening classes for minors or adults. For this work some 
teachers donate their services while others receive a nominal 
fee. Usually the industrial arts teacher is well prepared 
to do this work. 

Settlement houses frequently provide shops and craft 
rooms for neighborhood children and young people. Such 
activities as woodworking, pottery, weaving, and art metal 
lend themselves to this kind of activity satisfactorily. The 
shops provide leisure-time opportunities of a hobby type, 
presented extensively enough to become almost vocational in 
character. They may also lead to self-discovery. Unques¬ 
tionably, they assist some individuals to find outlets for 
creative expression which can be converted into income. 

County fairs .—In the fall of the year, county fairs in the 
United States are legion. As part of their programs, they 
usually include school exhibits. Occasionally, a working 
demonstration is desired, and when this occurs, benches, 
tools, materials, and pupils have to be moved to the fair 
grounds. Here the parents and other members of the com¬ 
munity have an opportunity to see what their children do, 
and obtain an insight concerning how school funds are 
spent. The practical phases of shop work make an appeal 
to many men. This probably is one of the best ways of 
convincing taxpayers of the value of industrial arts work. 
The school booths at any county fair, displaying charts, sec- 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 105 

tional models of parts of cars, and school shop equipment, 
are exceedingly interesting exhibits. 

Leisure-time activities .—Classes designed to meet the 
needs of individuals whose time is not completely filled are 
of two types, namely, those for the unemployed and those 
for persons whose working schedule is such that it leaves 
more time than can be easily filled with worth-while activi¬ 
ties. Persons engaged in seasonal and periodic work fre¬ 
quently face the problem of how to use their free time. With 
the rise of unemployment has come a new need. Adults find 
themselves out of wmrk and with no activity with which to 
fill their unoccupied time. They are looking for things 
which they can do to use their time profitably, to prepare 
them for a different type of work in case the old trade should 
pass away, or for employment which will enable them to use 
more effectively the products of industry. Recreation or¬ 
ganizations which have developed as a result of forced un¬ 
employment are numerous and active, and they need the 
help which shop teachers can provide. 

It has been demonstrated through emergency educational 
services that there are thousands of workers who are ready 
to enroll in courses which will teach them to be more pro¬ 
ficient in their own trades. Others are interested in courses 
in which they have not had experience. Many of these 
people are not conscious of their own abilities until they have 
been led to see the possibilities of growth and development 
in new fields. A supervisor in a large city has made the 
statement that many of the unemployed workers have 
abilities and skills, acquired through hobby craft or leisure¬ 
time activities, which they can convert into vocations. The 
workers do not see these latent possibilities until they have 
been pointed out to them by a disinterested, but observant 
person. Industrial arts teachers are frequently able to assist 
in this manner. 

Emergency teaching centers have been established in some 
States. While many of the classes have been organized in 
bookwork subjects, others have been organized in art and 
industrial arts subjects. The large population centers have 
been most successful in developing craft and art classes for 
unemployed adults. However, this work is not impossible 


106 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


in smaller communities. For example, a group in a 
mountainous region was organized into small classes for 
craft workers. The products of these classes were displayed 
and sold, part of the proceeds going to the members. This 
project was located in a summer-resort country. Because 
of this, little difficulty was experienced in disposing of the 
napkin rings, fireplace screens, trays, bookends, novelty 
furniture, and many other attractive pieces of hand work. 
The demand for such articles has become so great in the 
last few years that several organizations for their produc¬ 
tion have sprung up in many parts of the country. 

The Leisure League of America, Inc., is a recent example 
of an organization to assist people in making wise use of 
leisure time. It is chartered under the membership cor¬ 
poration laws of New York State as a nonprofit organiza¬ 
tion. Its avowed purpose is to discover and suggest in¬ 
teresting things for individuals to do in their leisure time, 
and it acts as a clearing house for hobby ideas. As an aid 
to “hobbyists”, the League publishes a series of attractive 
100-page paper-backed books, some of which deal with arts 
and crafts, which are obtaining wide distribution and 
popularity. A bibliography directs the reader to further 
material. The League also sponsored the widely heralded 
Hobby Round-up which was held in New York City in the 
spring of 1935. Many similar organizations, such as Home 
Workshop Guilds and Community Craft Clubs, have been 
formed. 

Extension classes .—Unemployed adults are often eager to 
join part-time, evening, apprenticeship classes, cooperative 
schools, and dull-season classes. Such groups aim to pre¬ 
pare individuals for some form of gainful occupation. As a 
rule they do not teach entire trades, but offer specialized 
types of work which are eagerly sought after by the 
mechanic who finds he needs to keep abreast of new processes 
and methods coming into his trade. 

The school club is often aided by popular magazine pub¬ 
lishing houses. Gardens, shops, woodcraft, auto mechanics, 
art metalwork, radio television, are among the topics 
treated. Some clubs are even sponsored or stimulated by 
certain magazines. Manufacturers, too, are glad to help by 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 107 


furnishing literature which will encourage the use of their 
tools or supplies. Thus, we find that the people of the 
country very generally, including manufacturers and pub¬ 
lishing houses, are ready to support the movement for more 
leisure-time work. This being true, the schools must not 
refuse to do their part in forwarding the work of this great 
movement. 

Apprenticeship classes .—In the small communities the in¬ 
dustrial arts teacher is the unofficial representative of indus¬ 
try in the school system. While his primary responsibility 
is to the school and to education along industrial lines, he 
also has a duty to perform for adults. Frequently a factory 
employs many of the local people. Most of them go to it 
directly from the grades or high school without having had 
any satisfactory shop training. Public schools can furnish 
in their regular industrial arts shops a type of work which 
is very helpful to employees and to employers as well. This 
w T ork is given in extension or apprenticeship classes in 
various trades. Such classes are usually taught by someone 
in the community who is a good factory worker, preferably 
one of the shop workers. In any event, he should be a man 
who meets the standards demanded by the local industries 
and one w T ho is satisfactory to local employers. After a satis¬ 
factory teacher has been chosen, classes are recruited from 
the ranks of the factory workers and the members trained 
in some particular type of work in which there is a shortage 
of workers, or where the daily work can be improved by 
study of some related type. As a rule, the industrial arts 
teacher is able to organize and supervise the teaching, but 
he frequently lacks a knowledge of shop technic which makes 
it impossible for him to do the actual teaching. 

Rehabilitation .—This type of educational work is another 
of the many outside activities frequently required of shop 
teachers. Usually it is extracurricular in nature, but occa¬ 
sionally it is made a part of the regular school duties. 

Aid to organizations .—There are numerous organizations 
in communities which need the aid of industrial arts teachers 
and others experienced in industrial arts crafts. Community 
organizations responsible for the development and presenta¬ 
tion of pageants and plays for special celebrations need the 

34968°—38 - 8 


108 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


assistance that the industrial arts teacher and his pupils can 
render in making the work a success. Pupils belonging to 
industrial arts clubs in the school or groups made up of 
youth who are interested in industrial arts enterprises find 
the services that the industrial arts teacher can render of 
inestimable value. The advice and assistance of persons 
experienced in industrial arts work are needed by such organ¬ 
izations as the Boy Scouts. Scout troops and commissions 
need the aid of teachers who are familiar with boys and 
their standards of workmanship. Persons who are trained 
and experienced in industrial arts find a foremost place in 
scout counsels and are in demand as examiners. The Boy 
Scout Merit Badge booklets contain material which is of 
value to industrial arts classes and industrial arts clubs in 
the prosecution of their activities. 

Emergency classes in Civilian Conservation Corps camps .— 
Another type of activity demanding the attention of school 
authorities today is the emergency C. C. C. camps. Boys 
of an impressionable age are being received by the camps in 
large numbers for training. Educational directors who have 
been appointed to most of the C. C. C. camps need the coop¬ 
eration of local school authorities who are constantly in 
touch with the best thought in education and particularly in 
industrial arts and vocational education. In this work, 
industrial arts teachers can render a most valuable service. 


CHAPTER VIII: PROBLEMS OF ADMINISTRATION 
AND SUPERVISION 

INSTRUCTIONAL ORGANIZATION 

Programs vary .—Industrial arts is a comparatively new 
field of education and in many respects differs materially 
from the older academic subjects. Because of this differ¬ 
ence it is important that its organization, supervision, and 
administration be given special attention. Industrial arts 
is also an expanding field in which new problems are con¬ 
stantly being presented. Because of its dynamic nature its 
development in a school system should be the responsibility 
of some individual with a sound educational background, 
a familiarity with modern industrial practices and develop¬ 
ments, a philosophy of life broad enough to interpret the 
present social order, and an ability to present the case of 
industrial arts whenever the whole educational program is 
under consideration. 

The way in which this obligation is met by administra¬ 
tors will vary with school systems. In a small school sys¬ 
tem the superintendent may have to rely on his only indus¬ 
trial arts teacher. It is important in such a situation that 
the teacher employed have a broad outlook in order to 
achieve desirable results. This one factor is a problem 
common to many administrators, since so many school units 
are small. In large cities the responsibility of promoting 
the industrial arts program is usually centered in a super¬ 
visor working directly under the superintendent or one of 
his assistants. Between these two extremes there are many 
variations. The point to be emphasized is the importance 
of recognizing the special needs of industrial arts not only 
in the matter of the curriculum, but also in the equipment 
and the building arrangements. In planning new buildings 
it should be the policy to acquaint the architect with the 
details of shop needs, so as to avoid those unfortunate and 
frequent situations where new buildings have been com¬ 
pleted without adequate provision for industrial arts. 

109 



110 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


Industrial arts teacher .—The teacher—a man or a 
woman—of industrial arts in the elementary school, grades 
1 to 6, should be a product of a normal school or teachers 
college giving adequate instruction in the philosophy and 
practice of industrial arts work to meet the training needs of 
teachers in that subject. He should also have a manifest 
aptitude for the manipulation of tools and materials, and 
the educational training and experience necessary to enable 
him to outline a program for these grades. Knowledge 
and skill in this field are especially important in the situ¬ 
ation obtaining in many large schools where a special room 
for industrial arts can be made available for the upper 
elementary grades. 

The teacher of industrial arts in the junior and senior 
high school grades meets a situation requiring broad teach¬ 
ing preparation and acceptable skill and knowledge in one 
or more crafts. Professional training and considerable 
trade proficiency can be acquired in a teachers college with 
the supplement of personal contact with industry. For 
many teachers, however, successful work as a skilled 
mechanic, together with professional training in educa¬ 
tion, provides desirable preparation in this field. The lat¬ 
ter type of background is especially valuable for the senior 
high school because of the increasing recognition of the 
vocational contribution of industrial arts. Teachers of 
industrial arts should have professional and general quali¬ 
fications which are fully comparable with those expected 
of other secondary school teachers. They should have a 
broad social outlook, be interested in pupils and their prob¬ 
lems, be proficient in the use of English, be able to organize 
instructional material, and have personal interest in all 
school activities. 

Curriculum content .—In previous chapters the matter of 
curricular content has been given much consideration. In 
this chapter attention is directed to only a few significant 
developments. Industrial arts has become a broad educa¬ 
tional field concerned with a great variety of materials, 
tools, machines, and processes, with factors conditioning our 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 111 

social-economic order, and with personal and social rela¬ 
tionships. Because of the social factors involved in indus¬ 
trial arts, correlation with the social studies is important. 
Such a relation would tend to increase the informational 
and cultural value of both. It no longer suffices to offer 
an isolated course in woodwork in our attempt to realize 
the objectives of industrial arts. In a society based on the 
greatest development of industrial output the world has ever 
known, industrial arts should be the medium of interpre¬ 
tation through a wide range of practical experiences which 
involve, on the part of the learner, both manipulation and 
understanding. 

Articulation .—In any study of articulation industrial arts 
should be included. So far as the subject-matter is con¬ 
cerned, it is related, on the one hand, to the fine arts on 
which it is dependent for principles of good design and 
for appropriateness of material and of finish. On the other 
hand, it is related to vocational types of shop work which 
involve techniques of construction and highly specialized 
workmanship. 

Three types of abilities are commonly recognized, namely, 
the ability to understand and assimilate ideas expressed in 
abstract form, the ability to manipulate materials and tools 
effectively, and the social ability to direct and lead other 
people. Of these three, the manipulative ability is probably 
most prevalent, especially in a civilization so dominantly 
industrial as is ours. It follows, therefore, that industrial 
arts which is based primarily on manipulation should be 
included throughout the school program. The purpose of 
good articulation is to make the educational program appro¬ 
priate at each level and continuous throughout the whole 
learning period. On this basis we may present a program 
of industrial arts from the kindergarten through college and 
even into adult life. Suggestions for organizing a program 
for various levels is presented in the different chapters. 

Time allotment .—There seems to be no uniform practice 
in determining the time to be allotted to industrial arts. 


112 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


In the elementary grades the time will depend on the class 
organization and the type of projects which are being carried 
on. Some pupils will devote more time to manipulative 
work than others because of their ability and interest. In 
junior and senior high schools where subject programs pre¬ 
vail, the time for industrial arts is controlled to some degree 
by the length of the periods. 

For purposes of facilitating the making of the school pro¬ 
gram, principals often prefer to have all periods the same 
length. Consequently in many schools, both junior and 
senior high school shop periods are the same length as aca¬ 
demic periods. If periods are less than 60 minutes, indus¬ 
trial arts teachers prefer double periods. Their reason is 
that from 10 to 15 minutes is required for the distribution 
and collection of tools and materials, and in addition often 
as much time for demonstration or discussion. It should be 
obvious that a period shorter than 60 minutes would be in¬ 
adequate for actual manipulative work. While the total 
time varies considerably, an average of from 270 to 450 
minutes per week is desirable in junior and senior high 
schools. 

With the tremendous increase in secondary school enroll¬ 
ment, due partly to unemployment, compulsory attendance 
laws, and other contributing factors, it has become apparent 
that a large number of pupils cannot profit greatly from ab¬ 
stract studies. The practice of allowing such pupils to de¬ 
vote a larger portion of their time to some form of manipu¬ 
lative activity is growing. In some cases, half or more of 
the school day is so employed. While some of these pupils 
are just as incompetent in shop work as in other subjects, 
nevertheless, many of them find in industrial arts their most 
effective means of learning and expression. 

Size of classes .—So many factors are involved in deter¬ 
mining the size of classes that it is difficult to agree on any 
specific number. Too frequently the number has been arbi¬ 
trarily determined to conform with the size of academic 
classes. A fairer and more reasonable approach is to pro¬ 
vide liberally in space and equipment and then through a 
carefully planned organization, involving what has come to 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 113 

be known as personnel organization, determine through ex¬ 
perience how many pupils can be efficiently instructed. 
There is much need for experiment and research in this 

field. 

BUILDING AND SHOP ARRANGEMENT 

Careful 'planning needed .—When one considers the extent 
to which industrial arts has entered the school program 
the importance of providing adequate, properly located, and 
properly serviced space becomes paramount. To be sure, in¬ 
dustrial arts has frequently been introduced in an empty 
coal cellar but when properly presented it does not stay 
there. In planning new or rearranging old buildings, the 
matter of providing shops and drawing rooms demands the 
most careful consideration. Because of the equipment re¬ 
quired and the necessity for pupils moving about rather 
than sitting at fixed desks, an old academic classroom is not 
large enough for a shop. Various shop requirements have 
been mentioned in previous chapters and it should suffice 
here to enumerate the following elements which are involved 
in good shop planning. 

Working space .—The working space allowed for each stu¬ 
dent varies with the size of the shop and class. However, 
50 square feet of floor space per pupil is considered a good 
average provided other physical conditions of the shop are 
normal. 

Assembly space .—Assembly space is essential for many 
projects built in the school shops. This space will vary with 
the type of shop and the nature of the products constructed. 
The space between benches, work tables, and machines is 
often inadequate and very inconvenient for assembling 
projects. Sufficient space for this purpose should be pro¬ 
vided that will insure safety and efficiency in the work. 

Storage space .—Storage space should be provided for (1) 
general supplies and less frequently used equipment; (2) 
for articles under construction and in the process of finish¬ 
ing. These facilities will vary with the nature of the work, 
class size, number of classes, time allotment, etc. 

Classroom, and seating arrangement .—School shops should 
be provided with facilities for giving demonstrations, shop 


114 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


talks, discussions, holding meetings, and other instructional 
devices. Most shops are found lacking in this respect. Too 
often when the instructor calls the class or a group together 
for demonstration or discussion, pupils are found standing, 
sitting, or clinging to any convenient equipment in the vi¬ 
cinity of the speaker. Demonstration benches, tables, or a 
speaker’s stand with surrounding seats on raised tiers have 
proved satisfactory in practice. 

Toolrooms .—A toolroom centrally located, well lighted, 
and the tools systematically arranged, with an efficient sys¬ 
tem for checking tools “in and out” will avoid confusion and 
add greatly to the efficiency of the program. Some teachers 
prefer small tool cabinets or panels distributed about the 
shop in close proximity to the type of work in which they 
are used. 

Lighting .—Whenever possible light should come into a 
school shop from the north and left and from only one side 
of the building. Artificial lights should be enclosed in order 
to prevent glare and to distribute illumination more effec¬ 
tively. The light in the school shop may be improved by 
painting the ceiling, walls, machinery, and equipment a 
light gray color. Poor lighting is caused also by dirty 
walls and ceilings, poor and dirty reflectors, low-voltage 
light bulbs, improper reflectors, lights improperly spaced, 
light too close to the ceiling, etc. 

Ventilation .—Ventilating and heating a school shop is 
dependent upon climatic conditions, type and size of build¬ 
ing, nature of work in the shop, and the heating and ven¬ 
tilating systems in use. A pupil at work gives off approxi¬ 
mately 450 B. t. u. per hour, which, according to varying 
estimates, necessitates a complete change of air every 5 to 
45 minutes. Shop temperatures should be approximately 
68° F. Higher temperatures induce sluggishness and are 
not conducive to good working conditions. In warmer 
weather, when artificial heating is unnecessary, there can 
be a constant flow and change of air by opening all win¬ 
dows. Woodworking machinery, forges, gas engines, paint 
spray booths, etc. should be provided with blowers, fans, 
and vents to carry away fumes, gases, etc. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 115 


Safety .—The average citizen is no doubt cognizant of the 
fact that a large number of accidents occur daily through¬ 
out the United States, but unless the accident is within 
the circle of his immediate family or friends often little or 
nothing is done in the way of setting up preventive and 
remedial measures. The real difficulty lies in the fact that 
the average individual lacks safety consciousness. The 
seriousness of the situation may, however, be readily com¬ 
prehended if one stops to examine the facts. Action is 
being taken in some States to remedy the existing evils. 
The problem is so important that it merits the attention 
not only of the employer and employee but of everyone. 
Safety is a special problem that should engage the atten¬ 
tion of school authorities, as the school is the only social 
agency that serves everyone. 

Any plan for eliminating shop accidents to be effective 
must be specific. Generalities are insufficient, as general ac¬ 
cidents do not occur. Accidents must be anticipated and 
preventive measures must be devised, as shop accidents are 
usually caused by ignorance rather than through careless¬ 
ness. A general statement of warning such as BE CARE¬ 
FUL or a long list of DON’TS will not suffice. 

It has been found that a large proportion of the acci¬ 
dents that occur in school shops are caused by: (1) Faulty 
construction of buildings, improper placement of machin¬ 
ery, equipment, and materials; (2) the use of improper 
methods in operating hand tools and power machinery; and 
(3) disorderly conduct by pupils. No machine is “fool¬ 
proof.” Whenever power-driven machinery is used there is 
a possibility of injury and accident to the operator. Hence, 
all power machinery should be amply protected with guards 
and other necessary devices. Demonstrations and, explana¬ 
tions are necessary for the use of all machinery. Safety in¬ 
formation by itself is inadequate. The instructor should 
not only give information about the use and dangers of 
machines, but should also give opportunity for practice, 
all of which should culminate in a safety consciousness if 
the instruction is to be effective. At no time should guards 
on machines be removed or out of position to avoid use. 


116 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


Any special machine set-up should be supervised personally 
by the instructor. All defective machinery should be re¬ 
paired as soon as possible. 

Lockers. —Separate lockers should be provided for each 
student to care for his equipment and materials. There is 
nothing more discouraging to a student than to have his 
materials lost or damaged simply for the lack of a proper 
place to store them. Metal lockers are preferable, due to 
their compactness, strength, and fireproof qualities. Wood¬ 
en lockers, however, can be purchased or constructed more 
economically and serve the purpose adequately. 

Lavatory facilities. —School shops should be provided 
with adequate lavatory equipment. The facilities should 
vary depending upon the subject. For example, the work 
in an auto mechanics shop or foundry produces more dirt 
and grime than the drawing room or wood shop. Showers 
are not an extravagance for certain shops. The major is¬ 
sue concerning shop and school lavatories is cleanliness. 
Students should be required to keep washstands and other 
equipment clean and orderly. Failure to do so creates a 
spirit of disrespect for school property. 

TYPES OF SHOPS 

Variation in school shops. —The evolution and develop¬ 
ment of the industrial arts program, from the inception of 
shop work, early known as manual training, to the pres¬ 
ent time, has been characterized by changes both in termi¬ 
nology and in the types of classrooms, shops, and labora¬ 
tories developed to house this part of the general educa¬ 
tional program. Manipulative work and creative experiences 
are found today in our public schools on all levels. The na¬ 
ture of these activities and the physical setting required for 
them vary widely in different schools, school systems, com¬ 
munities, and sections of the country. These differences 
have been accompanied by a diversity of terms used to des¬ 
ignate the types of shop organizations in vogue. The fol¬ 
lowing are those commonly found: 

Classroom or activity room. —In the lower elementary 
grades work with simple tools and such materials as wood, 
paper, cloth, textile fibers, clay, cement, basketry materials, 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 117 


is frequently conducted in the classroom either at the 
pupil’s desk or at work tables or benches especially designed 
and constructed for this purpose. 

The integrated shop or activity laboratory. —This is a 
centrally located shop or laboratory adapted for use of 
pupils in all the grades of the elementary school for the 
purpose of working on individual and group projects that 
cannot be carried forward in the classroom and of construct¬ 
ing articles on a play and hobby level. 

The general comprehensive shop. —This shop, usually 
found on the junior high school level, usually consists of a 
large single shop room in which a wide variety of manipu¬ 
lative experiences are conducted. The experiences include 
opportunities for enhancing the pupil’s general intelligence 
and for exploration and try-out in the basic fields of human 
endeavor, such as woodwork, metalwork, electricity, the 
graphic arts, the ceramic arts, the textile arts, transporta¬ 
tion and communication, and the agricultural arts. 

The general unit shop. —A shop in which the experiences 
are confined to a large field of human endeavor which em¬ 
braces many occupations that are allied and contain com¬ 
mon elements. Example: A general unit shop in woodwork 
may include the following: (1) bench woodwork, (2) ma¬ 
chine woodwork, (3) cabinet making, (4) mill work, (5) 
carpentry, (6) cement forms, (7) wood turning, (8) wood 
patternmaking, (9) painting and finishing, (10) weaving, 
(11) upholstery. 

The portable general shop. —This is a type of organiza¬ 
tion employed by the itinerant shop teacher, especially in 
rural communities. Basic equipment such as benches, and 
common supplies and materials, are maintained in each of 
the school shops, while the major portion of the tools and 
other necessary equipment is mounted on racks and panels 
or fitted into tool kits and other suitable and convenient 
devices for transporting them to the various schools. This 
method is financially economical and guarantees a maximum 
of use. 

Home mechanics shop. —The educational experiences in 
the home mechanics shop are grouped around activities es¬ 
sential to the welfare of the home, such as woodwork, elec- 


118 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


tricity, plumbing and pipe fitting, concrete and cement, 
metalwork, and numerous “unspecialized practical activi¬ 
ties” essential to the upkeep of every household. 

The unit shop .—The work in a unit shop is confined to 
the experiences of a single occupation or activity such as 
printing, machine shop, mechanical drawing, and pattern 
making. In organizing such a shop for industrial arts pur¬ 
poses it is to be borne in mind that school shops to be of 
value must be organized upon a sound educational phil¬ 
osophy and upon valid aims of industrial arts education, 
from which definite values should accrue. Unfortunately, 
however, school shops are frequently organized upon ad¬ 
ministrative expediency, the attempt to duplicate another 
system or organization, or upon the whims, particular ex¬ 
periences and background of a teacher, supervisor, or direc¬ 
tor. The type of school shop that is established in a par¬ 
ticular school system should be dependent upon the social, 
economic, occupational, and educational status of the com¬ 
munity, and upon the size of the community, the school, 
and the school system. 

EQUIPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF SHOP 

Cost .—Frequently the first question which arises when 
shop equipment is requested is, “What will be the cost?” 
This factor is important, especially when funds are limited 
and school budgets are being carefully scrutinized and cut. 
There are instances where school systems have purchased 
elaborate equipment in times of affluence and from which 
they are not receiving adequate returns, where a clever sales¬ 
man has oversold a school, and where a school system at¬ 
tempted to compete with a neighboring town or city. 
Equipment should not be purchased because it is cheap, 
inexpensive, second-hand, obsolete in industry, or a whim 
of the teacher. Cost factors should be determined and gov¬ 
erned by a thorough analysis of need and use. 

Selection— Frequently shop equipment is selected with¬ 
out due consideration of its ultimate use. It is always well 
to formulate a set of principles which may act, at least in 
part, as a tentative guide to the purchase of equipment. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 11Q 
Pertinent questions to be considered will include: 

1. What types of work are to be undertaken? 

2. Will it meet course-aims, needs, and requirements? 

3. Is it adapted to the local situation? 

4. What it its probable length of usefulness? 

5. Will it aid in improving instruction? 

6. Will it save pupil time and effort? 

7. Is space available? 

8. Is it dangerous for students to use? 

Purchase . Supplies and equipment should be purchased 
in accordance with a definite plan. In the larger centers 
and cities supplies are purchased by and through the busi¬ 
ness manager of the board of education; in the smaller 
centers, through the teacher, principal, superintendent, de¬ 
partment head, or secretary of the school board. In almost 
every instance, purchases of any size must have the ap¬ 
proval of the school board. 

Factors to be considered in making purchases include: 

1. A legitimate reason for requesting supplies and equipment. 

2. A thorough description of the items, including name, size, 

grade, quantity, and quality. 

3. Definite specifications. 

4. Personal knowledge regarding materials desired. 

5. Desirability of local dealers whenever possible. 

6. Desirability of ordering supplies on a yearly basis. 

7. Analysis of all needs so far as possible, making an allowance 

for emergencies. 

Arrangement .—Shop equipment, tools, machinery, mate¬ 
rials, and supplies should be arranged to facilitate their use 
to the fullest degree. This involves such factors as: 

1. Location of benches, work tables, and machines—their relation¬ 

ship to each other. 

2. Working space around benches and machines. 

3. Working space for handling materials. 

4. Working space for assembling projects. 

5. Arrangement and installation of lighting, hearing, and 

plumbing. 

6. Localization of tool and supply rooms and of special equipment. 

7. Safety precautions. 

8. Facilities for demonstrations, shop talks, and class discussions. 

9. Location ol lavatories. 

10. Locker space. 

Installation. —Installing shop equipment requires as much 
analysis and planning as its selection. One method fre- 


120 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


quently used is to draw the floor plan to a convenient scale 
and to cut cardboard, representing equipment occupying 
floor space, to the same scale. By moving and arranging 
the cardboards in various locations and positions, a deci¬ 
sion can be reached as to the most advantageous placement 
of the equipment. 

In the larger centers, the school district employs regu¬ 
larly a force of mechanics, such as machinists, carpenters, 
cabinetmakers, millwrights, sheet metal workers, etc. These 
craftsmen usually install shop equipment, overhaul it, and 
take care of adjustments, repairs, and replacements. In the 
small school systems the instructor usually is required to 
install his own equipment. Frequently, he has had little 
opportunity to receive such training. Consequently, it is 
a wise policy for the school to hire someone who is profi¬ 
cient in the installation of machinery or to specify in the 
contract that the equipment, machinery, etc., is to be in¬ 
stalled and will not be accepted until it is satisfactorily 
set up for use. The recent development of electrically 
driven portable machinery has solved many problems of 
installation. 

Use .—Equipment in the school shop is strictly for instruc¬ 
tional purposes. This should be borne definitely in mind 
when requisitioning its purchase and assigning its use in 
the shop. It is to be used and not abused. Pupils should 
be made to understand that it is public property, pur¬ 
chased at public expense, as a necessary part of their edu¬ 
cational training. 

Upkeep .—School shops contain much valuable equip¬ 
ment, especially the machinery, for which a definite policy 
of upkeep and repair should be established. Classes may 
be organized so that each member has some definite assign¬ 
ment and responsibility that will aid in keeping the equip¬ 
ment in good working condition. These duties may be 
rotated weekly and consist of such assignments as the 
following: 

1. Clean all machines and equipment after using. 

2. Place all equipment and machine attachments in places re¬ 

served for them. 

3. Examine and check motors, switches, fuse boxes, belts, guards, 

etc. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 121 

4. Fill grease cups, lubricate all machines and movable parts. 

5. Recondition broken parts. 

6. File, grind, and sharpen equipment whenever necessary to do a 

good job. 

7. Report to the instructor immediately all equipment not func¬ 

tioning properly. 

8. Disconnect all machines when being repaired. 

The question is frequently asked whether the pupils should 
repair the shop equipment. The answer can be given in 
the affirmative, provided they have the ability to do so 
and provided the repair work has an educational value and 
does not become routine or interfere too seriously with the 
program of instruction. Some school administrators take 
the attitude that a teacher who cannot keep all of his equip¬ 
ment in repair and condition is inefficient. This assump¬ 
tion is incorrect. The instructor’s teaching load and other 
assigned duties may be so heavy that he has little or no 
time to care properly for his equipment. In addition, the 
equipment required for teaching a comprehensive program 
may be so diversified that only a person experienced in the 
construction of the machine could be proficient in making 
all the needed repairs. A mutual agreement between the 
shop teacher and the principal or other administrative offi¬ 
cers should be developed relative to a policy for the up-keep 
of shop equipment. 

Replacement policy .—It is important that schools should 
establish a continuing policy governing replacement of 
equipment so that each proposal for a new machine to take 
place of an obsolete or worn-out one will not be subjected 
to all the questions and consequent delays that may be 
injected into it on account of a present local financial situ¬ 
ation or the personal viewpoint of some official. Schools 
can benefit by investigating the replacement policies of 
business and industry. When industry purchases a machine, 
for example, a lathe, it plans to “write it off the books” 
in 5,10, 15, or 20 years. Very few schools, if any, maintain 
such a policy. Schools buy equipment with the hope that 
with reasonable care it wfill last indefinitely. Cognizance 
should be taken of the fact that school equipment is used 
largely by immature and untrained students, as compared 
with industry’s equipment which is used by few persons and 


122 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


by those who possess skill in the operation of it. Conse¬ 
quently, it is advisable that in accordance with their finan¬ 
cial ability schools purchase standard makes of equipment 
that will withstand hard usage, and that at the time of 
the purchase, an approximate estimate be made as to the 
length of its use. Any policy involving pressure or coercion 
in order to secure replacement of equipment should be 
unnecessary and discouraged. 

TEXTBOOKS AND REFERENCE MATERIAL 

Values of textual materials. —Shop teachers are not in 
accord regarding the use and value of textbooks and refer¬ 
ence materials. One group contends that it is an essential 
factor in good instruction. The opposition is of the opinion 
that it kills pupil interest. They state, as their chief rea¬ 
son, that pupils enjoy and are interested in shop work be¬ 
cause books are not involved. 

The chief values of a textbook and other collateral mate¬ 
rial are: 

(1) They are working tools. 

(2) They provide for a definite scope of work. 

(3) Students assume responsibility in connection with them. 

(4) Class standards can be maintained more effectively. 

(5) Progress and achievement can be measured more effectively. 

Types of materials. —There are four major kinds of ma¬ 
terials which can aid in shop teaching: 

(1) Books and periodicals devoted to the professional literature 

on the subject. 

(2) Trade and advertising literature. 

(3) Pamphlets, bulletins, and monographs published by city and 

State departments of education, the Office of Education, 

professional educational organizations, and city, State, and 

Federal Government departments other than educational. 

(4) Motion pictures, slides, etc. 

Sources of supply. —Among the sources of supply for text¬ 
books and reference materials are the following: 

(1) Publishing houses—order by requisition same as for other 

supplies. 

(2) Donations by patrons and commercial and industrial con¬ 

cerns. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 123 


(3) Available newspapers, magazines, and other periodical litera¬ 

ture. 

(4) Trade journals and house organs. 

(5) City school departments. 

(6) State departments of education. 

(7) Educational foundations. 

(8) Office of Education. 

(9) Research departments and bureaus. 

(10) State and Federal Government departments, other than 
educational, etc. 

The shop library .—Every school shop should possess a li¬ 
brary room, or have space reserved for shelves or a cabinet 
for reference materials. With the abundance of material 
that is free or for which there is only a nominal charge, 
there is no excuse for a shop teacher not having available a 
large supply of reference and illustrative materials. 

A -filing system .—To classify and file reference materials 
for convenient and efficient use, a filing system is necessary. 
Shop teachers have an advantage over other teachers in 
that files of convenient sizes may be constructed in the shop. 
The aid of the school librarian or anyone versed in library 
technique should be solicited if assistance is required in cata¬ 
loging printed materials. 

OUTSIDE CONTACTS 

Community duties .—Teaching is a profession in which 
it is an easy matter for an individual to withdraw from 
public notice. This is due to the fact that teachers, as a 
whole, deal with young and immature people. By virtue 
of his position, the teacher should be a leader or at least a 
participant in public and community affairs. In many re¬ 
spects he should be a salesman. He must sell plans and 
ideas to his superiors, pupils, patrons, and the public. He 
should cultivate a pleasing personality and develop the 
ability to present his work to others in a brief, clear, and 
concise fashion. When he is invited, as teachers are fre¬ 
quently, to address service clubs, parent-teacher clubs, and 
other organizations, he should consider it a privilege. 

In order to keep informed about modern industry, indus¬ 
trial processes, innovations and developments, the industrial 

34968°—38 - 9 



124 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


arts teacher should contact industry frequently and regu¬ 
larly. One of the best methods is summer employment. 
Reading current literature, trade journals, and magazines 
is helpful. 

The hobby fair .—The hobby fair is an additional oppor¬ 
tunity for the shop teacher to contact parents, patrons, and 
the public. It is an enterprise, often fostered by the shop 
teacher, in which the pupil displays his proudest possession. 
Many of the exhibits are constructed in the school shop after 
regular class hours or at home, but the abilities required for 
their construction are acquired through instruction in the 
school shop. 

Patrons ’ night. —Patrons’ night furnishes an unusual op¬ 
portunity for the industrial arts teacher to make valuable 
contacts with parents and friends of the school. On this 
night the school is usually in full operation, consequently the 
visitors are enabled to see the shops and laboratories under 
actual working conditions. The industrial arts teacher, 
therefore, is presented with a very desirable situation for 
making friends with patrons and other laymen, for discuss¬ 
ing with them the work he is doing, and for interesting 
them in his program. 

School exhibits .—School shop exhibits are a means of dis¬ 
playing the work and accomplishments of students. If the 
exhibit is properly planned and organized and the articles 
arranged in an orderly and systematic fashion it is interest¬ 
ing, educational, and worth while. If the exhibit is the 
work of the pupils, and it does not interfere too seriously 
with the regular program, it is one of the best mediums a 
teacher can use to bring his work to the attention of patrons, 
school authorities, pupils, and others. The following means 
for exhibiting work are often used: 

1. The department exhibit — 

This consists of the work of all the classes in the various 
shop departments. 

2. Individual shop exhibit — 

This consists of a display of a single shop, a single class, 
or a combined exhibit of all the classes in a single shop. 

3. Instructor’s exhibit — 

This is a perpetual exhibit of work recently completed, work 
previously completed, and work under construction at the 
present time. 


ITS INTERPRETATION IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 125 


4. Exhibits in cabinets and show cases — 

Many modern schools are constructed with cabinets and show 
cases which contain a perpetual exhibit, the projects being 
changed frequently. 

5. Exhibits on bulletin boards — 

Bulletin boards may be used to display pupils’ work espe¬ 
cially graphic representation. 

6. Exhibits in store windows — 

Many merchants are willing to cooperate with the shop 
teacher by permitting him to display pupil projects in his 
store windows. It is a good method of calling attention 
to the work of the schools. 

7. Miscellaneous exhibits — 

In addition to the types and ways of exhibiting school shop 
projects already mentioned, there are such additional 
means as State, county, and local fairs, educational con¬ 
ventions, etc. 


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